As Cricket Canada holds their AGM in Montreal, Eddie norfolk provides some thoughts for this web site:-

The time has come, in my opinion, for some of those involved in Canadian cricket administration to wake up or, alternatively, move aside to bring on board some replacements who may have the vision to carry the game forward Sadly the biggest needs to “make cricket known” to a broader audience exist in cricket’s traditional heartland of Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec). Things seem to tick along better on Canada’s Pacific coast in the two longstanding British Columbia leagues around Vancouver and Victoria.
The age of the quill pen and carrier pigeons may not have ended in Quebec and Ontario based on the slow pace and quality of information pushed out by the recognized provincial governing bodies. On the field, Quebec moved forward in the 2014 Atlantic T20 when fielding a younger side that captured that championship in Stratford, Prince Edward Island. But off the field, possibly nothing but an interim suspension of “leading” officials will bring about necessary change to demonstrate beyond a narrow band of club cricketers that cricket exists in that part of modern Canada where the first game on record was played back in 1785.

It is possibly, but sadly, fitting that this first game of record was played on an island near Montreal and that only the Guelph total is known from an 1834 game against Toronto. Disgracefully the Quebec Cricket Federation’s official website is unable to disclose which team won the 2014 league championship, but this information may appear during Cricket Canada’s Annual General Meeting for the year ended December 31, 2014 that begins later today (April 18, 2015) in Montreal.
Guelph beat Toronto twice during 1835 and the series between Toronto Cricket Club and Upper Canada College began with two matches played in 1836. The feeble but slightly improved third recent re-incarnation of the Cricket Council of Ontario’s official website offers an opinion that cricket was first played in modern-day Ontario in 1844. Whether the February 2015 meeting at which cricketing matters of state for Ontario were discussed was ever resumed is open to question, based on available information on the website and facebook page. But, again, someone can appraise the assembly of Canadian Cricket in Montreal about such issues later today.
In the absence of strong administrations in two such major cricketing provinces, there is little central help available for those attempting to restore cricket in Canada’s maritime provinces or build it in some provinces with limited cricketing histories. Of course, the financial positions at the national and provncial levels of cricket in Canada are far from strong despite the legacy of three successive appearances by Canada in the ICC Cricket World Cup final tournaments in 2003, 2007 and 2011. But strong relationships with sponsors were not built in that era, although many promising young cricketers have and are still emerging.
The Canadian cricketing ship has bounced around in sometimes stormy seas, but in the calm waters of last year’s Under-17 Canada Cup tournament at Centennial Park, Etobicoke who from the Ontario Cricket Council, the hosting organization, went seeking to interest passers-by in a national Canadian cricket event? It looked like none to me. A number similar to the number of people who operated the two scoreboards, one for each of the two grounds.
Some of the passers-by stopped to watch the cricket. On the first two or three days of the tournament there were many who passed around the cricket grounds, especially the east ground. Many people were visiting the Annual Canada Day Ribfest Opportunity knocked to try to make some folk get involved in the Ontario cricket scene, but the leaders failed to act upon such opportunities.
Perhaps if I can dig up the portrait photos of the Quebec squad from the 2014 Atlantic T20 in the next half hour or so I might venture to Montreal for the open phase of Saturday’s Annual General Meeting?
But it might be easier to get an answer by posting a team photo on facebook and seeking feedback. Electronic carrier pigeons might provide answers to questions and photos that the participating teams ought, in a better world, to have available for distribution at the start of such events as an Atlantic T20 championship.
Easier still would be to do the scientific control experiment of doing nothing – seeing what happens in a covered, empty see-through container in a cool room. One version of transparency. Not necessarily the best, but that depends upon your perspective, role and, if any, responsibilities.
Eddie Norfolk April 18, 2015, Toronto at 5am.