I'd say follow the money.
Would you explain that?
What are the benefits to foreign members to have an AHA membership (other than zymurgy)? Because it appears that is one of the major problems here. The ALES comp was moving to full capacity, and was well judged and well run, those don't appear to be reasons not to have the site anymore. If foreign members are funneling money to the AHA without the same benefits, it's not much of an incentive....
...but, ultimately, as stated above, you are hurting for BJCP judges. As crazy as this sounds, in the long run, it may have been more beneficial to your members to have more sites in Canada and open to the US entries. I would bet that we have a large pool of qualified judges available to handle it at this end. Because obviously, you are backing yourselves into a corner with the disproportional growth rates of brewers/judges. Killing ALES is just a symptom of a bigger problem that may not go away so easily. My 2c.