Another year has come and gone already. On behalf of the RMA Canada Board of Directors I would like to extend our best wishes to you for what we hope will be a prosperous and healthy 2020.

I would also like to thank you for the continued support you show for your Association, without which we would not be able to effectively represent the receivables management industry as we do. Through that support we had a very busy, yet successful 2019, including all our government relations work, hosting our AGM & annual golf social and another very well attended conference.

We were very active with our government relations activities and our success is having an impact at both the Federal and Provincial levels in Canada. We have been invited to various meetings with the Federal regulators, Ontario Ministry and Service Alberta. Under Steve Sheather’s continued leadership in 2019 the RMA has been successful in becoming a recognized voice for the receivables management industry within the various levels of Government. We once again attended several private meetings with Ontario officials in a consulting role that will have impacts on our industry and I am glad to say we did continue to have some influence in the process. We also had the chance to meet and foster relations with several Ministry staff and regulators. Effective January 2020, Louis Fortin has taken on the role of Government Relations Committee Chair. Having worked with Steve closely on this committee over the past year’s Louis is very knowledgeable of the activities to date and the key contacts he will be working with. We would like to thank Steve for his energy and guidance in this key aspect of the purpose of RMA Canada.

During 2019 we brought together members and friends of the Association; first our Annual AGM and Social Event, which was well attended with good representation at the AGM and over 90 golfers for the Golf and dinner. This participation allowed us to move the business of the RMA forward in the establishment of revised guidelines along with the validation and support of our initiatives. Secondly, at our Annual Conference in November, we had over 270 attendees. I would like to once again thank all our Sponsors and in particular our Title Sponsor – Equifax and our Champion Sponsor – MetCredit.

Additionally, at the conference we held a silent auction in order to begin funding our new scholarship/outreach program. The event was a success in that we raised $5,000 for the program. This will be matched by RMA Canada. Thank you to all of you who participated in the auction your support is greatly appreciated. A special thank you for those who donated auction items: Score Statistical, Razor Capital, Metropolitan Credit Adjusters, Kingston Data & Credit, Gatestone Company, KRMC Law, AJS Canada, Common Collections, Dion Consulting, Cleanlist, Groupe Solution Collect, Cover-All, General Credit Services, Ana Pacos Art, CBV Collections, Anderson Sinclair, Rogers, Commercial Credit Adjusters, EOS, Canacedde, D&A Group Services, Consolidated Recovery Group, Techcom, CSF Receivables Management, FDR and First Canadian Title .

Special thank you also to Heidi Roszmann who pulled this successful event together once again.

Now on to 2020, we will continue with the above-mentioned activities and initiatives and we encourage you to get involved in your Association, through volunteer opportunities and continued participation. Important date to remember: AGM and Social Event, May 26th, Royal Woodbine Golf Course.

Watch for the announcement of the dates for the 2020 Conference at the Toronto Hilton to be confirmed soon.

I look forward to seeing you at both events!

Jeffery Pilon
President, RMA Canada