There is also an opportunity for you to showcase your business or operation to the rest of the Canadian Angus fraternity by becoming a sponsor of the event.  Full information is available on the Convention page of the CAA website.  Contact Cheryl Hazenberg at chazenberg@cdnangus.ca or by calling the office for more information.

Registration will open for Convention on April 1st, 2015 and full details will be available in the next e-news.

What is the Transaction Fee?

Commencing January 1st, 2015, the new $5 Transaction Fee will be assessed for every work order that is submitted or requested by clients of the CAA for which a financial charge is accrued. So, if you submit all your applications for registration at one time, you will be assessed the single $5 Transaction Fee. If you request to set up a DNA kit for parentage verification, you will be assessed the Transaction Fee. This fee is ONLY assessed, however, on orders that involve a financial charge. Subsequently, transactions for which either no charge is assessed or if a refund is provided will NOT be subject to the Transaction Fee.

Why a Transaction Fee?

The purpose of the Transaction Fee is to offset miscellaneous administration costs associated with any given work order that our Member Services Team completes as well as bank and interest charges. The CAA's office supplies (including telephone, postage, courier, equipment lease, insurance, et al, for a total 2014 cost of $149,793) and bank and interest charges (cost of $85,226 in 2014) have increased between 5% to 40% over the past three years and while the new Transaction Fee certainly does not offset all of these costs, it does almost cover the increase we've experienced since 2011. The total cost of this CAA administration in 2014 amounted to $234,989, or 6.68% of CAA's total annual expense. The new Transaction Fee was set at $5 in an effort to cover approximately 1/3rd of the annual expense for administrative overhead and financial services.

Paying a transaction fee for service has become quite common within the service industry, and subsequently this new fee has been incorporated to help offset part of 'the cost of doing business' in addition to the rest of the Updated Fee Schedule, which is really about doing exactly that. Please remember that your CAA has been continually trying to create new member value through services and tools but doing so based on fees largely assessed in the 1980s. With the Updated Fee Schedule, your CAA is playing 'catch up' to 'the cost of doing business' in the 21st century.

Again, the new Transaction Fee is assessed at $5 to be accrued on each financial transaction that takes place between the CAA and its members and users. Approximately 1/3rd of our transactions (about 6500 annually) do not have a financial charge assessed to them, so will not be subject to the new Transaction Fee. The remaining (roughly) 15,000 will be assessed the $5 Transaction Fee. If members choose to 'batch' their work to minimize the number of Transactions Fees they pay each year, your CAA will believe this is a constructive and positive choice because that leads to efficiency on our part by performing more services for you while your single work order is 'open'. When your work is done and we close the work order, you are assessed the $5 Transaction Fee if this is a financial transaction in which you pay a fee.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your Canadian Angus Association at 1-888-571-3580. Thank you very much.

• Tyler Dietrich (Forestburg, AB) - $500;
• Allison Speller (Monte Lake, BC) - $500;
• Jennifer Jermey (Ashern, MB) - $2000;
• Michaela Chalmers (Shanty Bay, ON) - $3000
• Matt Bates (Cameron, ON) - $5000.

Many thanks to our twelve (12) judges who evaluated the four (4) stages of our contest. Many (even most?) of you are on this distribution, and we appreciate your expertise and volunteerism.

Congratulations to all of our applicants, to each of our recipients and, finally, to the CAA members from coast-to-coast, both breeders and supporters of the Canadian Angus cause, who donate and purchase in support of our Foundation and our national youth. YOU are all the 'stars of our show' and NONE of this happens without YOU...