Eddie Norfolk
Cricket Canada, the national governing body of cricket in Canada, is at the top of the Canadian cricket pyramid. Much like the Federal/Provincial political governance structure, there are recognized cricket governing bodies in 10 provinces but none in any of the territories.
Below these recognized provincial cricket governing bodies there may be full member cricket leagues, associate/affiliate cricket leagues and possibly affiliated cricket academies as well as some leagues that are not currently members of cricket’s provincial governing body recognized by Cricket Canada. The mix in the previous sentence applies in Ontario, but in some provinces with a smaller number of cricketers, at present, the provincial body currently runs whatever league or leagues exist. There are some provinces outside Ontario where there is a divided landscape between recognized leagues and leagues operating separate from the provincial governing body recognized by Cricket Canada.
The name Cricket Canada was officially recognized from November 2007 onwards, according to the official Cricket Canada website. The Canadian Cricket Association had been recognized for many years as cricket’s Canadian national governing body up to and including the 2007 season.
Top-Down Governance with Bottom-Up Election Processes
There is a top-down pyramid of governance in Canadian cricket, reflecting the Federal/Provincial perspective but the elections to Canadian cricket boards operates on a bottom-up basis.
Leagues (whether recognized by, or affiliated with/members of a provincial cricket governing body) will generally hold elections to the league’s board on an annual basis, typically required in the context of holding an Annual General Meeting. Now some positions on a board may allow someone to serve for a term of 2 or 3 years, so typically only certain positions on the board would be up for election in a particular year. This allows for continuity in the operation of a league.
Provincial cricket governing bodies will typically have annual elections on a similar basis to those outlined above for leagues. However, the election process in smaller cricketing provinces that directly runs the province’s league would engulf the league level of AGM/elections. But separate elections and AGMs would be expected in larger cricketing provinces, such as Ontario and British Columbia. In larger cricketing provinces, member leagues would send designated representatives to represent the league at events such as AGMs.
Some from a particular league or leagues would, in the normal course, be elected to positions on the provincial board. Some leagues may limit the extent of a particular individual holding positions at both the league and the provincial level. where the provincial body directly runs the league.
There are, at present, not many people employed in an administrative capacity by provincial governing bodies as far as I am aware.
Designated representatives would attend the Annual General Meeting of Cricket Canada, and any special meeting that may be called during the course of a year. In some instances board meetings or special meetings may take place via phone. Some people from each province may be nominated and elected to serve in some capacity on the national governing body, Cricket Canada.
The prevailing Constitution, By-Laws and Regulations of Cricket Canada describe the specifics, but when checking the link to those documents I encountered a security warning and decided not to delve into the particular.
Member Clubs Voting to Elect Provincial Board Members
Then delegate or delegates from each recognized member league will, typically, have voting rights at the Annual General Meeting or other recognized voting system for the Board of a Provincial cricketing body. There may or may not be a weighted system of voting whereby a league with a certain number of member clubs has more than one vote, based on the particular, prevailing constitution/bylaws and regulations of the relevant provincial cricketing provincial governing body.
Are Certain Canadian Cricket’s Websites Up-to-Date?
When branching to some of Canadian cricket’s provincial there seemed to be some potential issues on the face of the record about the completeness in lists of member leagues, and other cricketing entities, such as cricket academies or college cricket entities.
As midnight arrived to end Monday, 28 October 2019, the official Cricket Ontario/Cricket Council of Ontario website, for example, listed four leagues in Ontario as “Member Leagues”, there were five listed as “Affiliate Members”, while no “Cricket Academies” appeared when checking for academies with some form of membership or affiliation with Cricket Ontario. I know that some Board Members of Cricket Ontario/Cricket Council of Ontario turn up in support of some events hosted by, for example, Canadian College Cricket or the Canada Masters(Over 50’s) cricket association. Sometime during the summer, someone involved in the Scarborough (Ontario) cricket association confirmed that league is a member of Cricket Ontario. But it remains unlisted as of last night.
That’s the end of this outline about the structure of cricket’s governance in Canada, except for an appendix of Existing Members and Affiliated organizations for Cricket Canada and Cricket Ontario, based on data on their official websites when 28 October, 2019 ended.
Appendix: Existing Members/Affiliates: Cricket Canada and Cricket Ontario
Cricket Canada
The section of the Cricket Canada website about “Members” included the following provincial
bodies as of the close of Monday, 28 October 2019:
Cricket Alberta
Cricket BC (Cricket British Columbia)
Cricket Ontario (Cricket Council of Ontario)
Cricket New Brunswick
Manitoba Cricket Association
Cricket Newfoundland and Labrador
Nova Scotia Cricket Association
Quebec Cricket Federation
Saskatchewan Cricket Association.
PEI Cricket (Prince Edward Island Cricket)
The largest number of cricket leagues and clubs within Canada are in Ontario. There are more cricket leagues within Ontario than those currently cited as “Members”, “Affiliate Members” and “Cricket Academies” on the official Cricket Ontario/Cricket Council of Ontario website. Some of the others, such as the Scarborough Cricket Association/League, may well be members of affiliate members, but some other leagues seem to operate independent of Cricket Ontario/Cricket Council of Ontario.
I believe Canadian College Cricket and Canadian Masters are recognized by Cricket Ontario, but neither are currently listed in any of the membership categories on the Cricket Ontario website and both have potential beyond the single province of Ontario.
Cricket Ontario Members
The following list of members, associate members and cricket academies is based on the official Cricket Ontario/Cricket Council of Ontario Website as of the close of Monday, 28 October 2019
Members
Toronto and District Cricket League
Branpton-Etobicoke and District Cricket League H
amilton and District Cricket League
Canadian Commonwealth Cricket AT
Affiliate Members
Markham Premier League
Mississauga Cricket League
Toronto City Cricket Club
Barrie Cricket League
Region of Waterloo Cricket Association
Cricket Academies
None listed.