Removing directors
“The sad fact is that, in this town, it’s a whole lot easier to get rid of a broken blender than it is to recall a rogue politician. And that’s not right.”
—Rocco Rossi




A requisition to remove all the directors, or even one director, from the board of a condo corporation is a very serious matter that should be taken only if it is believed that serious harm will occur if the director, or directors, remain in office and all other remedies have been exhausted.

To force a recall election, the requisitionists require:
1. A total of 15% or more of all owners to sign the requisition.
2. A quorum of 25% of all owners to hold the meeting.
3. A minimum of 50% +1 of all owners eligible to vote to be in favour of
    the removal.

This is a high threshold and can be difficult, if not impossible to meet. In a building where 30-80% of all owners are absentee landlords, some who do not even live in this country, how can the requistionists get the needed 50% plus one vote at the special owners meeting?

Lets do the math for a building with 200 units with 40% absentee owners:
Required votes to remove a director
101
Number of owner-residents
120
Number of owner-residents in arrears
002

In this case the requistionists will need almost 90% of the owner-residents to vote for the removal or the proxies from a large number of absentee owners.

A requisition to remove a director was deliberately made difficult to accomplish as non-profit corporations needs stable governance and recall votes should not be held for frivolous reasons or just because a losing candidate does not want to wait until the next AGM.

Grounds


A recall campaign should not be based on unsubstantiated rumours, gossip or personal issues not related to the condo corporation. It definitely should not be used as a tool in a power struggle between two or more factions fighting for control of the board.

Good reasons to remove a director would include obnoxious, callous, sexist, racist and/or undemocratic behaviours while serving on the board. I would include abuse of position by using corporation assets for his/her private gain, falling in arrears on their fees and harassing and abusing residents that the director took a dislike to.

Violations of the Privacy Act and failing to enforce the condominium declaration, by-laws and rules may, depending on the seriousness, should cause a director to be kicked out of office.

The hiring of friends and relatives, failure to disclose conflict or interests, ignoring serious health and safety issues and refusing to allow owners to view the corporation's records would also, in my opinion, be grounds for recall.

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