Supporters of the Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) ethical sourcing policy and friends of Israel were pleased with the results of the recent MEC elections, released Thursday night. Here is a first person account of the AGM.
A report on the MEC AGM
by Dan Schloss, Canada-Israel Committee Pacific Region Manager, Advocacy
I made sure to get to the Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) AGM about two hours ahead of the start time. To my delight, there were already a handful of pro-Israel activists there to greet me. Over the next 45 minutes before the doors opened for the AGM, we were joined by about 40 more pro-Israel activists, with others coming in once the doors opened.
There was an unspoken feeling of anxiety. We were unsure what to expect, and worried that anti-Israel activists would try to further their agenda. I saw someone with a flier that said “choose peace not war,” and, going outside, I saw two "activists" handing out pamphlets on behalf of the “Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign.” But after watching them for a few minutes, I realized the vast majority of passers-by were completely disinterested. Back inside the AGM, I noted that these two activists were curiously absent, leading me to believe that they weren’t even members!
At the AGM, the newly elected (or re-elected) board of directors were introduced. A total of 32,728 people voted this year, up 700 from last year. Lucy O’Driscoll recieved the most votes by a wide margin. She was followed in votes by the re-elected Chris McNeill. The third director elected was Margie Parikh, who edged out Bill Gibson by 13 votes (9,237 for Parikh; 9,224 for Gibson). This was the lone unfortunate event of the evening. Gibson is a fair-minded and vocal opponent of boycotting any country (including Israel), as well as somebody who has long been involved with MEC’s governance and a one-time CEO of the co-op.
Finally came the results of the five special resolutions. These resolutions are extremely important to us as they effectively prevent the board and the co-op’s governance structure from being commandeered by special interest groups. The results were overwhelmingly positive: they all passed with an average of 89% of the electorate voting in favour.
The meeting wrapped up with questions and comments from the audience. There were three speakers lined up, and we all sat with baited breath.
The first speaker, a long-time MEC member and former director, was very happy that the special resolutions passed. He noted that in past AGMs, all kinds of resolutions would be brought forward and debated, many of them political in nature and having nothing to do with the governing of MEC.
The next speaker commended MEC for being a pioneer and mentor in the Canadian co-op community by instituting a fantastic and responsible ethical sourcing policy.
Two speakers down, only one to go – a speaker that an Israel supporter was quite sure had spoken in favour of an Israel boycott last year. I was more nervous now than in all the weeks and months leading up to this point!
This speaker stated his concern over special resolution 3, which effectively gives the board a veto over resolutions which 75% of the board deem contrary to MEC’s best interests. To me, it was fairly obvious that he was concerned about anti-Israel motions being vetoed. The chair, Denise Lawson, was quick to remind him that 89% of the electorate acclaimed this motion, so it was entirely democratic and, in fact, desired by the vast majority of voters. And thus ended an evening that we can say was a huge success for the pro-Israel community.
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