If you’ve been on a board in the past or if you’ve been recently invited to sit on a board, it is natural to be a little apprehensive. One of the first questions that many people will ask is ‘how much of my time will be required?’ While ensuring you have enough time to dedicate to being a volunteer on a board is important, it’s equally as important to understand what the basic duties are. This is aside, of course from actually attending the meetings! In our last article, we discussed the responsibility of fiduciary duty, but another basic duty that board members are required to fulfil is the duty of care. The duty of care relates to the directors’ responsibility to exercise the care, diligence and skill that a reasonable person would exercise in comparable circumstances. If you are like me, you likely had to read that sentence over a couple of times to really grasp the meaning behind duty of care. In short, it basically means that as long as the director or board member takes the time to read the material presented and make a reasonable decision on the information presented, they have met their duty of care. This is generally what directors or officers insurance is covering directors for. There are very few instances in Canada where courts have ruled that boards have failed to meet their responsibility to the court in relation to duty of care. In addition, the primary focus of a board is to supervise the management team, and they can do this by reviewing information and asking a lot of questions. For example, it is appropriate to ask questions regarding the budget or financial statements. It is the management’s role to develop and execute a strategy that has been approved by the board of directors. However, once the board becomes involved in executing strategy, the liability related to those decisions rests with the board, rather than with management. It’s important to keep in mind that if you ever find yourself in a situation where you feel there is a conflict of interest, please seek independent legal counsel or disclose the potential conflict and remove yourself from the discussion and the decision. There is a lot of information available regarding board governance. A good resource for condominium board training is the Canadian Condominium Institute (Manitoba Chapter). In addition, the Institute of Corporate Directors (Manitoba Chapter) provides courses applicable to for profit and non-profit corporations for Directors. Staying informed and up-to-date can make a big difference to how your board functions and to how successful you feel in fulfilling your role as a director.

Some may refer to it as fall, others may call it as the season of meetings! As many organizations break for the summer, activities get back into full swing as the leaves start to fall from the trees. This is also true when it comes to condominium boards. The next couple of months are often laden with annual general meetings and we often find ourselves dusting off our board meeting binders. As many of us have agreed and volunteered to commit this year to a board or organization, it is important to remind ourselves of the responsibilities that go along with serving on a board of directors. When it comes to condominium or not-for-profit boards, there are two distinct basic duties that board members are tasked with: fiduciary duty and the duty of care. Fiduciary duty requires a director to act honestly, in good faith and in the best interest of the corporation. Included in this duty is disclosing any potential conflicts of interest to the board of directors and not voting or being present during discussions when a conflict does exist. Fiduciary duty also includes the duty of confidentiality. This prevents the director from disclosing confidential information to others who could potentially benefit from the private information. In Canada, it is important to remember that your duty as a director is to the corporation, which doesn’t always align with the condominium owners in the case of a condominium corporation. This is much different from the United States where the duty is owed to the shareholders. It is important and interesting to note that most directors/officers insurance policies do not cover a director in cases where they have failed to meet the fiduciary duty owed to the corporation. In fact, there have been some highly documented cases of directors on condominium boards in Ontario being sued for failing to meet their fiduciary duty to the corporation. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/condo-boards-toronto-1.4113053 While being reminded of these duties is not meant to be a deterrence to offering your valuable time to sit on a condominium board, the intent is inform and educate you so that you can perform your board duties with the utmost of confidence. In our next article, we’ll continue the discussion on basic duties of board members and share more details on the duty of care. Stay tuned.

The Manitoba government will once again offer free entry to provincial parks to mark the Labour Day long weekend, Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires announced today. “Free park entry weekends provide an opportunity for all Manitobans to enjoy our natural, cultural and historical sites in provincial parks,” Squires said.  “Manitoba summers are a wonderful time to get outdoors, so I encourage everyone to take advantage of this great opportunity.” Park vehicle permits are not required in provincial parks from today to Monday, Sept. 4.  Regular camping fees still apply.  In addition to free entry at provincial parks, there will be a variety of special interpretive programming this weekend, such as: an amphitheatre presentation on furs and trapping at Birds Hill Provincial Park; guided tours of historic houses at St. Norbert Provincial Park; a star-gazing party at Spruce Woods Provincial Park with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada; and opportunities to view migrating geese up close at the Alfred Hole Goose Sanctuary in Whiteshell Provincial Park. School teachers are encouraged to book free interpretive programs for their students this fall and winter in Birds Hill, Spruce Woods and Whiteshell provincial parks.  Interpretive programs offer engaging, curriculum-based outdoor learning experiences in natural and cultural environments.  For details on interpretive programming, visit www.manitobaparks.com or email: ParkInterpretation@gov.mb.ca. Several provincial park campsites, cabins and yurts remain open through the fall, allowing campers to stay as late as Thanksgiving.  To make a reservation, or see the full list of campgrounds open in the fall and their operating dates, call the Parks Reservation Service (toll-free) at 1-888-482-2267 or visit www.manitobaparks.com. Boaters and all watercraft users are reminded that everyone has a role to play in the protection of lakes, rivers and wetlands from the transfer of aquatic invasive species.  When leaving any waterbody, watercraft users must clean, drain and dry the watercraft, trailer and all water-related equipment and dispose of unwanted bait in the trash. Anyone planning a backcountry trip is reminded that campfires should only be started in designated fire pits.  Campers heading into a remote area should tell someone else where they are going and when they expect to return. Manitobans can also stay up to date with provincial park news, activities and events by following the Twitter channel at www.twitter.com/MBGovParks.

Naseer Malik, VP Brandon Rotary Sunset Club tells bdnmb.ca that the idea for Brandon's first ever Rib Fest started when "one of our members visited a Ribfest and then proposed it at one of our meetings....and we all loved it."  Naseer goes on to say that as the result of such a successful event "the profile of our club has really improved after this event and put us on the map.  Membership was perhaps decreasing a bit and now people are approaching us to join the club.  We are looking to do more large projects." Your expectations were 1,000 people a day and you ended up with over 18,0000 people at the conclusion of the three days.  Why do you think you had the success, you did? “ Brandon was ready for something new and we haven’t had anything new or unique in a long time…… it seemed like everyone was out in attendance with food, drinks, great weather and entertainment” What are some of the hurdles you had to overcome?  “ our projections were way off and we weren’t ready for the shear amount of people that attended…. We needed more and more people to help set up and take down.  People need rest and can’t work around the clock.  It is really a business you have to manage it as such." Looking forward to 2018 what do you see going forward? “it is very hard for us to answer and it will be much bigger and we feel we just started….we will have to look into how to manage it even better.   We will be in the same venue … how many more ribbers …. More volunteers etc. BDNMB.CA congratulates Naseer and the Rotary Sunset Club on a great job.

Some snazzy new playground structures have been installed this week into three different locations in the City. The equipment was installed by Winnipeg's Playgrounds R US as part of the city's playground renewal budget. The three new playgrounds were installed at the Wescana Drive Community Playground, Park Community Common, and the Crocus Playground. The structures have been inspected by the City's Community Services Staff, and the City is encouraging the public to check out the new additions.