CARP: THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
The Federal Election of 2019 saw the demotion of the Justin Trudeau Liberal Government to Minority Status; and while outright control of Government eluded the Conservative Party of Canada, it was the only mainstream party to gain ground. All the others lost seats.
In the run-up to that Election, CARP urged all Parties to respect the size and interests of our community and to remember that Boomers and Zoomers and Seniors of all sorts – our demographic gang – voted at a much higher level than the younger cohorts. We got lip service and a smattering of policy gestures from all the contestants, but the CPC was the only one that put some money behind the thought; i.e., they were the only ones who matched their senior-oriented platform planks with a reasonable ad campaign targeted at the 45-plus.
So outsized is our cohorts’ impact on voting that I have no hesitation in attributing at least some of those extra seats to our Zoomer votes. And, as there will be a new election soon enough, I urge the other parties to take note, think again and adjust their media mix accordingly next time around.
In 2019, we welcomed Marissa Lennox as the new Chief Policy & Operating Officer of CARP, along with David Cravit, Anthony Quinn and Jana Ray, who upgrade their recent part-time efforts to full-time engagements as Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Community Officer and Chief Membership & Benefits Officer respectively. Marissa holds a Master’s in public policy from New York University and is also the co-host of VisionTV’s long-running flagship current affairs television show, theZoomer.
Together, our new management team will pursue three priorities in the coming year, all aimed at increasing CARP’s visibility and generating more memberships: 1) focusing our Advocacy efforts on the increasingly urgent topic of Canada’s underperforming health-care system; 2) launching a much more aggressive ad campaign to make our Benefits package more visible, timely and urgent; and 3) introducing an innovative new Rewards program, in partnership with BRIM Financial, that will enable members to save even more money all the time.
As to our finances: these days, CARP’s annual revenue from dues comes to about $1.8M. In addition, there is periodic educational income from third-party partnerships and a still considerable cash subsidy from ZoomerMedia Limited (not to mention, continuing significant media and advertising exposure in ZML’s several broadcast, print and digital outlets); all of which have enabled CARP to achieve a level of National Visibility and Reach well beyond the norm. At the same time, everyone understands that after 10 years of receiving yearly support in the seven figures, CARP must finally find its way to self-sufficiency. Accordingly, I have charged our management team to grow membership and reduce costs in order that we may soon achieve sustainable independence and long-term viability.
One way to achieve that, after more than a decade of outsourcing our member (and subscriber) support services at a high cost, is to bring the call centre back in-house. We believe that current members, who support our mission
“To Improve the Lives of Canadians as We Age,” who already know and use the Benefits and who regularly experience the quality of Zoomer magazine, will be our best peer-to-peer, outbound as well as inbound, Ambassadors on the phone.
A final note about healthcare, since it is so important: up to now, we have argued our case clinically and logically, backed up by studies and evidence. But in the year ahead, we are going to embark on one of the largest and most disruptive campaigns in our organization’s history. We will make clear to harried politicians and hidden bureaucrats that, when it comes to our vaunted health care system and its increasingly visible failures and pain points, in the words of the famous movie Network: “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore…”