I. MEMBERSHIP

a. The Member Provinces of AWC shall be the Provincial Associations properly affiliated through the payment of annual dues.
b. The Fiscal/membership year starts on January 1st of each year.
c. Proper affiliation shall be construed as annual payment of fees based on the following schedule:
      o $25.00 minimum per Province plus $ 0.50 per member as per attached census. Each province must provide a census of their provincial membership each year.

      o Members with multiple club membership should be counted once only. The census will be used to determine maximum provincial entries in the National Competition and should be received by AWC by January 1 of the competition year.

      o The annual fees shall be due on January 1st and any Member Province who has not paid the annual fees by April 1st will not be eligible for entry into the National Competition of that year.

II. MEETINGS

a. The AWC must hold an Annual General Meeting in the Host Province in conjunction with the National Competition.
b. The AWC Secretary will notify all Member Provinces at least two months prior to the meeting and provide the following:
      o date of meeting
      o place of meeting
      o agenda
      o request for nominations for President, Secretary and Treasurer
      o request for Provincial Reports, Chief Steward / Competition Committee Report, Handbook and Bylaw Committee Report and Other Reports.
      o request for additional agenda items

c. The President or in her/his absence, the Vice President (appointed by the Host Province) will chair the meeting.

d. Motions may be made by any Member of the executive.

e. All motions must include a suggested timeline for final voting. Such timeline must not exceed six (6) months. A shorter timeline will be appropriate for a motion that is considered non-contentious and that will probably be brought to an immediate vote. A longer timeline will be appropriate for a motion that will probably require discussion within and among Member Provinces.

f. All motions including the election of Officers will be circulated by email to all Provinces.

g. Voting will be conducted by email and be chaired by the President

h. Each Member Province is entitled to one vote per issue. A majority vote of 50% plus 1 is required for a motion to pass. Abstentions are not accommodated.

SECTION B b) BYLAWS contd.

j.. The AGM Agenda should cover the following:
      o time, date and place of meeting
      o consideration of agenda
      o recording of delegates and guests present
      o minutes from previous meeting
      o business arising out of these minutes
      o business arising out of Motions carried since the previous AGM.
      o reports:
            ? President
            ? Treasurer
            ? Secretary
            ? Chief Steward/Competition Committee
            ? Provincial Directors
            ? Handbook and Bylaw Committee
            ? Any other reports
      o discussion arising out of reports
      o further old business
      o new business
      o nominations
      o appointment of Archivist
      o next Host Province and appointment of Vice President
      o adjournment

k. Minutes of the AGM should be circulated within 30 days.

III MOTIONS AND VOTING BETWEEN ONE AGM AND THE NEXT Any Member of the Executive may make a motion at any time between one AGM and the next. The rules regarding such motions are the same as for motions made at the AGM - under II MEETINGS d, e, f, g and h.

IV. EXECUTIVE The Executive shall be composed of:
      President [elected]
      Vice President [appointed]
      Secretary [elected ]
      Treasurer [elected]
      Archivist [appointed]
      Past President
      Provincial Directors [Appointed -one from each Member Province] a. There shall be no limit on the number of annual terms of office of the elected members of the Executive. However, elections shall be held for each office of the Executive annually.

b. Any Member of any affiliated club is eligible to be nominated for any office.

c. A Nominating Committee shall be established by the President prior to the AGM for the purpose of submitting a slate of candidates for election to the meeting. Nominations may also be made by the Member Provinces at the AGM

d. Each Provincial Association shall, within its association, elect a Provincial Director to serve on the AWC Executive and make nominations for any of the three elected positions.

e. Officers shall be elected on the basis of one (1) vote per Member Province. For voting purposes, the election of Officers will be governed by the same rules as those for regular motions under II MEETINGS, d, e, f, g and h.

f. The Directors, as guided by their Provincial Associations, shall elect the Executive from those nominated, such election to be held by email immediately following the AGM.

g. An Archivist shall be appointed annually at the AGM.

h. The Vice President should be appointed by the next Host Province at, or prior to the AGM if possible. If this is not possible then the next Host Province should appoint the Vice President following the AGM and notify the President of his/her name within one month.

V. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

A. PRESIDENT

a. The President's responsibilities include coordinating the hosting of the National Competition. Offers to host shall be open to all Provinces but this responsibility should be shared equitably by all Member Provinces.

b. The President shall be ex officio a Member of all Committees. He/she shall, when present, preside at all meetings of the Organization. In his/her absence, the Vice President shall preside at any such meetings, and in the absence of both, a Chair may be elected at the meeting to preside thereat.

B. VICE PRESIDENT

a. The Vice President shall be responsible for arranging and setting the agenda for the Annual General Meeting held in conjunction with the National Competition. She/He shall act as Chair in the absence of the President.

C. SECRETARY

a. It shall be the duty of the Secretary, whenever possible, to attend all meetings of the Organization and of the Executive, and to keep accurate minutes of the same.

b. The Secretary will keep an accurate account of all motions made during the period between one AGM and the next, including whether such motions were carried or not.

c. In case of the absence of the Secretary, his/her duties shall be carried out by a person appointed by the Executive.

d. The Secretary shall keep a record of all the Member Provincess of AWC and send all notices and agendas of various meetings as required.

e. The Secretary shall have charge of the AWC seal.

f. The Secretary shall have charge of all the correspondence of the Organization and shall be under the direction of the President and the Executive.

D. TREASURER

a. The Treasurer shall receive all monies paid to AWC and shall be responsible for the safeholding of same.

b. He/she shall establish two accounts: one for the deposit of the annual Membership fees from the provincial bodies and to be used for the maintenance and operating costs of AWC, the second to hold funds to be used in conjunction with the operation of National Competitions.

c. The Treasurer must, at the start of the new fiscal year, i. e. January 1st, remind all Provinces of the annual fees being due now and notify the Host Province after three months which Provinces are eligible to submit entries into the National Competition of the year. The Treasurer shall present a financial statement to the Annual General Meeting of AWC.

E. ARCHIVIST

a. It shall be the responsibility of the Archivist to maintain the AWC records and to preserve the historical data concerning competition results.

F. PAST PRESIDENT

a. The main job of the Past President is to advise and assist the President in his/her tasks ensuring there is a continuation of previously established policies and programs.

G. PROVINCIAL DIRECTORS

The Provincial Directors shall be responsible for:

a. The dissemination and distribution of information received concerning any AWC business to the appropriate persons in her/his Province.

b. The collection and shipping of wines to the AWC National Competition.

H. AMATEUR WINEMAKERS OF CANADA

The AWC shall be responsible for:

a. The printing and distribution of the Agenda for the AGM as approved by the Vice-President, and of any associated documents.

b. The cost of printing any Certificates awarded.

c. The purchase of the Gold Key award for the Grand Champion Winemaker.

d. The printing and distribution of the minutes of the AGM and any associated reports and documents.

I. HOST PROVINCE

The Host Province shall be responsible for:

a. The holding of the AWC Competition using a format of its choice but within any constraints that may be decided upon by the AWC.

b. Determining the scope and timing of the National Competition giving due consideration to the dates of the various Provincial Competitions if a conflict arises. Nonetheless, the Competition shall be held between July 1st and October 1st with eight months notice of the date being given.

c. Setting, within any limits laid down by AWC, and collection of Competition fees from National Competition entrants.

d. Forwarding to the AWC and Member Provinces the results of the National Competition in as timely fashion as possible.

VI REMUNERATION

a. No Officer or Member of the AWC shall receive any remuneration for his/her services.

VII AMENDING THE BYLAWS

a. Any motion to amend the bylaws of the Amateur Winemakers of Canada (AWC) will be discussed and decided exclusively in an AWC on-line forum. There will be no voting on issues at the AGM, although motions can be introduced there.

b. Motions can be submitted by any member of the Executive with the exception of the Chair. Publishing a motion by email to all members of the Executive is sufficient to put a motion on the table and no seconder is required. All motions submitted should include a timeframe for discussion and resolution, but voting must be concluded within six months.

c. Voting on motions will be done by the Provincial Directors on the basis of one vote per Province, with 75% of all Member Provinces required to pass the motion.

d. The President of the AWC will act as Chair for on-line discussions. The first duty of the Chair will be to seek consensus on the timeframe for reaching a decision on a proposed amendment. In the case of the President's extended absence, the Past President will assume the role of the Chair.

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