To echo the sentiments expressed by Dogstar, while I feel the people selected can very well represent the interests of our group, I think the membership should be allowed to be more actively involved than they are now. As is stands now, most people aren't given a chance of expressing their opinions nor given any assurances that their concerns will be addressed. E-mailing one or few people who will be attending the meeting is not a productive nor accountable way of accomplishing that goal. There needs to be some debates as to what are the issues that are going to be raised in that one hour meeting. This would also assure that the people who will be going won't be sent to defend their personal interests at the expense of the benefits of our entire membership. After all, AC did not initiate this talk for the purpose of knowing what a few people desired but what their flyers wanted unless of course, this one-hour meeting is merely for PR.

Secondly, while I think the people chosen by Empress are very competent individuals capable of accurately representing us, I do not like the closed-door nature or the secrecy of this process. The current proposed meeting with few people selected at one single individual's discretion without the memebership having an opportunity to discuss who would like to volunteer and why they should be given the chance of going is ignoring the importance of collectivity of this community. There are obviously more people qualified than the number that could be sent. However, I strongly believe the people to be sent should also have some kind of support from the members of this forum. It doesn't have to come down to a voting process but I think this process should or could have been more open and let everyone has a say before making a final list. I won't be surprised the membership ended up backing the exact same people as Empress has appointed. Nevertheless, it would give the team much more confidence and authority to speak on behalf of all of us, not just a few people.

I urge some considerate changes to be added to this process either that be the questions to be asked and/or the people to be sent. I even think that if those people are going to represent our community, their travelling cost should at least be partially sponsored by those who cannot go provided that they are willing and committed to represent our collective interests, not their personal agendas. This has to be accountable and done in an open manner. The way I see it, there are many Westerners (if not all) on this team. Since it's a Wednesday, people got to fly on points or pay full-fare unless someone want to vacation in Montreal till weekend.

I am looking forward to hear the opinions of other Flyertalkers and sincerely suggest the person(people) concerned to pay attention to the suggestions raised by other Flyertalkers here.