Pride Toronto distances itself from board candidate meeting

The board of directors of Pride Toronto is distancing itself from a candidates meeting, even as it sets out the terms by which the public will judge potential new board members.

All Can! is billed as “an all-candidates-style discussion with those who want to join Pride Toronto’s board of directors, hosted by Jane Farrow.”

“Join
the Pride Coalition for Free Speech and Xtra as we get to know future
Pride Toronto board members and quiz them in an all-candidates meeting
format,” says the event’s Facebook page.

Pride Toronto issued a press release over the weekend emphasizing that All Can! is “not part of the 2010 official nomination process for Pride Toronto Board Director candidates.”

From the release:

Per the published nomination process, the AGM is the official
opportunity for qualified nominees to publicly state their reasons for
candidacy, and to answer questions from our members. We try our best to
allocate sufficient time for each candidate to present themselves to
our members at the AGM. We do not endorse or mandate Board Director
candidates to attend any other public event in relation to this
election.

To help our members learn more about the candidates in advance of
the AGM, Pride Toronto will publicize the names and biographies of the
final candidates. We also welcome our members to submit questions they
would like the candidates to address at the AGM ahead of time.
Questions for the candidates can be emailed to office@pridetoronto.com
by September 21 at 5pm, and the list of all questions will be compiled for circulation to all approved candidates.

Pride Toronto encourages its members to treat all final Board
Director candidates in a fair and consistent fashion through the
published process. We welcome feedback from our members on our
nomination process prior to next year’s event so we can take that into
consideration in planning for our next election.