Happy New Year
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JANUARY 2000 Good Luck! BERMUDA BOWL TEAM NPC: Irving Litvack Mike Hargreaves, Gord McOrmond, Allan Graves, Bryan Maksymetz, Joey Silver, Fred Gitelman VENICE CUP TEAM NPC: George Mittelman Dianna Gordon, Sheri Winestock, Beverly Kraft, Rhoda Habert, Francine Cimon, Barbara Saltsman TRANSNATIONAL TEAM MEMBERS Colin Revill - with 3 U.S. players George Mittelman - with 3 U.S. players Elizabeth Redrupp, Shelagh Paulson, Chrystina & Vern Schock Pierre & Nicole Beauregard, David & Evelyn Kirsh Fred Gitelman - with 4 U.S. players Karl Hicks, Bernie Britten, John Carruthers, David Deaves George & Mari Retek - with 2 U.S. players Follow our Canadian players on Happy New Year the Orbis tournament web site: www.bermudabowl.com Wishing a warm 2000 to all OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE CANADIANOFFICIAL PUBLICATION CANADIENNE DE BRIDGE • ORGANE OFFICIEL DE LA FÉDÉRATION BRIDGE FEDERATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2000 Zone I Leo Weniger Vice-Prez 504-1333 South Park St., Halifax, NS B3J 2K9 902-425-3392 [email protected] Zone II Doug Heron President 1238 Willowdale Ave., Ottawa, ON K1H 7S3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 613-731-6740 (h) 613-523-8785 (f) [email protected] CBF ACTIVITIES President’s Corner … 3 Zone III Ray Lee 22 Lower Village Gate, Toronto, Ontario, M5P 3L7 by Doug Heron 416- 932-9766(w) 416-932-2816(f) Bridge with the Elephant … 4 [email protected] by Robin Wigdor CBF Hall of Fame … 7 Zone IV Bill Treble CBF Archives … 11 3 - 1050 Moncton Ave., Winnipeg, MB R2K 1Z1 by Madeline Conrad 204-669-1458 (h) [email protected] CANADIAN NATIONAL Zone V Nicholas Gartaganis CHAMPIONSHIPS 1816 Braeside Place S.W. Calgary, Alberta T2W 0Z5 Bridge Week 2000 … 10 403-253-2767 [email protected] Bridge Week Calcutta … 12 Zone VI Aidan Ballantyne Canadian National Championships 101 - 4590 Earles St., Vancouver, BC V5R 6A2 (CNTC & CWTC) 1999 … 17 604-438-3095 (h) 604-431-7706 (f) [email protected] by Eric Kokish & Beverly Kraft Ex-officio George Retek (ACBL D1 Director) JUNIOR BRIDGE 514-937-9907 (w) 514-931-2205 (f) Bid Boldly, Play Safe … 6 Jonathan Steinberg (ACBL D2 Director) Youth Festival Team 2000 … 8 416-977-2050 (h & f) WANTED: Junior Manager … 8 [email protected] Junior & Youth MP Races … 9 Dick Anderson (ACBL D18 Director) 306-761-1311 (h) CANADIAN MASTERPOINTS Charity Marilyn White Richmond Trophy Race … 9 182 Bowood Ave., Toronto, ON M4N 1Y6 (416) 322-5464 ARTICLES L’Invitation Au Voyage! … 24 CBF Jan Anderson par Bernard Marcoux Coordinator 2719 East Jolly Place Regina, SK S4V 0X8 Bridge … 26 Exec. Sec. 306-761-1677 (p) 306-789-4919 (f) par Denise Phaneuf Treasurer [email protected] World’s Longest Running Continuous Bridge Partnership … 12 Editors Jude Goodwin-Hanson by Jim Priebe 20284 121st Ave., Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9S4 604-465-2933 604-465-2979 (F) Filling in for Marge … 13 [email protected] by R.H. Edney A Dream Hand … 22 Bernard Marcoux by Prent Glazier 12129 Taylor, Montreal, PQ H3M 2K1 514-333-6589 (h) 514-333-0502 (f) IN MEMORIAM [email protected] John Davison … 15 Archivist Madeline J. Conrad Jerry Aceti … 16 [email protected] 902-462-3112 2♠♥♦♣ bridge Canada PRESIDENT’S CORNER he previous issue of Bridge Canada championed the interests of Canada, but con- focussed on ACBL-Canada relations. stantly face the challenge of persuading other T ACBL Board members that their views should be supported – a formidable task when there The CBF motion which was sent to the ACBL are three Canadian members and twenty-two was published in the September issue.Feedback non-Canadians. In recent years the make-up of was requested from the membership. Feedback the Board has shifted, and Canada’s ability to we got, and then some. advance its interests has suffered. Letters ranged from total condemnation of the Due to a number of factors, some of which are CBF as irrelevant, through encouragement for listed below, the CBF Board felt it had little what the CBF does currently, to strong support option but to state its case in the form of a for separation. All the letters received were motion. passionate in nature. It seems that feelings run 1. The ACBL had voted to withdraw the right high, but with no clear mandate emerging. of Canada to approve their own teams for international play. At the time I write this column, the Boston 2. The ACBL was indifferent regarding its meetings have not yet taken place, but there is failure to reconcile membership accounts for enough encouragement from the ACBL with Canadian members. regard to an apparent change of attitude 3. The CBF was facing steadily declining rev- reflecting a conciliatory approach for us to be enues, which if left unchecked, could have led at least somewhat hopeful. to a financial crisis. 4. The ACBL was increasingly non-responsive Robin Wigdor, a lawyer who has been involved to routine requests from the CBF. since the founding of the CBF, writes with his ideas of a solution (see page 4). Questions were The CBF Board was prepared to seriously pur- asked about how the ACBL-CBF relationship sue a course that could have led to a complete- deteriorated. ly independent CBF. This was not a particular- ly attractive option, but given the problems How we got here: The CBF resolution pub- faced, there was little choice. Either the ACBL lished in the September issue accurately had to make a greater effort to address issues reflected the state of affairs between CBF and important to the CBF and Canadian ACBL ACBL at that time. Relationships swing like a members, or it would have to deal with the pendulum. Deteriorating relationships spawn CBF in a totally different relationship. calls for creating an autonomous CBF, with full control of revenues, etc. However I agree with Fortunately, since the CBF motion was passed, Robin Wigdor’s view that an independent CBF the ACBL has made a concerted effort, espe- may solve many of the problems, but would cially in communicating with the CBF, likely create a whole new set of issues...not the accounting procedures, and realizing that yes, least of which is how to set up a permanent there are problems. infrastructure for an organization that relies almost totally on volunteers. There is still a lot of work to do, but at least progress is being made. The Canadian representatives on the ACBL Board of Directors (George Retek, Jonathan Doug Heron, President, CBF Board of Directors Steinberg, and Dick Anderson) have effectively January 2000♠♥♦♣ 3 BRIDGE WITH THE ELEPHANT: THE CBF AND THE ACBL The September issue of Bridge Canada printed a resolution adopted by the Board of Directors of the Canadian Bridge Federation, addressed to a variety of problems (“...the ACBL accounting system is defi- cient...”; “the ACBL has been unwilling to work with the CBF...”; “The ACBL displays a lack of sensitivity regarding issues of national sovereignty,...”). The resolution also provided that, while cooperating with the ACBL in a search for solutions, “the CBF will concurrently investigate its options with respect to form- ing an independent, lower cost and more efficient organization by to take over the sanctioning of duplicate bridge in Canada.” Robin Wigdor October, 1999 The Board resolution, and other reports of Canada’s, and the CBF’s problems with the ACBL, reflect two structural and systemic problems. Independent Sanctioning Organization Eliminating the Conflict of Interest With the exception of CBF sponsored events, Many of the issues stem from, or are duplicate bridge in Canada is administered by exacerbated by, the ACBL’s inherent the ACBL (both CBF and ACBL-wide events conflict of interest in acting both as the are sanctioned by the ACBL). Canada is not distinguished from the U.S. in tournament United States National Contract operation, membership services, master point Bridge Organization and the North awards and ratings, and so forth. One conse- American Zonal Organization. quence is that tournament and membership rev- enues are enjoyed by the ACBL. Another is the Zonal Organizations exercise control over com- “lack of sensitivity” reported by the CBF petitors selected for many of the world champi- Board, reflected in the ACBL’s “inability to onship events. This naturally extends to control provide French language service to Canadian over the selection process and player participa- francophones”. While operational improve- tion, financial subsidies, as many Canadian ments may be negotiated, an implementation of players are painfully aware. The Laws of the obvious solution to the underlying problem Duplicate Contract Bridge delegate regulatory will not be simple and will not necessarily pro- authority in a number of areas to Zonal vide a net benefit to Canadian bridge players. Organizations (including the power of an Nonetheless, the CBF Board has (appropriate- appeal committee “to do equity” (Law 12); ly) resolved to “investigate its options with and, as all tournament players must know, reg- respect to forming an independent, lower cost ulation of the use of bidding and play conven- and more efficient organization to take over the tions, and even certain partnership understand- sanctioning of duplicate bridge in Canada”. ings (Law 40)). The seven Zonal Organizations control the WBF through the appointment of its Executive Council. (The ACBL appoints 5 of the 15 appointed members.) 4♠♥♦♣ bridge Canada National Contract Bridge Organizations, on the The Canadian Bridge Federation, and other hand, have little influence on the World the other North American National Bridge Federation. They meet only once every Contract Bridge Organizations, should two years, coincident with WBF Olympiad events. One need only skim the minutes of the make the creation of a new North last such meeting to understand the pro forma American Zonal Organization a priori- role enjoyed by National Contract Bridge ty.