ORIGINAL: bbbair
The Magazine - has been legislated but the Corporations Act of Canada, as a method of dispursing information the the members (Not everyone has a computer you know). So it has to stay, and it's not that bad of magazine either.
Not quite right - but close.
Our bylaws mandate notice of meeting for the Annual Zone meetings, Annual General meeting and notice of motion for the AGM. The association also sends out the results of the AGM, and notices of upcoming events. These could be sent out by lettermail (to my understanding, e-mail isn't yet recognised by Industry Canada as a valid method for notice of motion.)
The cost to the association to mail out these 4 mailings would come extremely close to, if not exceed, the cost of the magazine.
The magazine brings with it a wealth of information, which you may or may not want to read, event dates that are reasonably current, and becomes a cost effective venue for Canadian companies to advertise their businesses to canadian modelers. There is no other magazine that would allow a small canadian company to reach as many modellers for the cost that we can offer, and that is a part of the mandate of MAC mag.
This is yet another 'idea' that surfaces just about every year ... and is regularly examined.