2016 Financial Statements
Plus a message from the President
2015 saw the election of a new government in Canada. On the campaign trail, Justin Trudeau paid a special visit to a special meeting of CARP, convened a mere two weeks before D-Day; at which time our soon-to-be PM made a number of powerful promises to our Association and to the Canadian people. In return, we made it clear that we would hold him to his word, and keep his government’s “Feet to the Fire” as the Federal Liberals begin to roll out their agenda.
So, how is this new government doing? So far, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side, members welcomed the speedy rollback of the age of retirement from 67 to 65; and the agreement-in-principle to enhance the Canada Pension Plan is a breakthrough for which CARP has been fighting for the past eight years. Bravo! On the other hand, we feel the government did a major disservice to Canadians on Medical Assistance in Dying by passing legislation that chose not to allow for advance direction for those in the early stages of dementia; and only time will tell if Canadians will see promised investments in home care services and supports for the millions who act as caregivers for their loved ones.
In January of 2016, we welcomed Wanda Morris as CARP’s new VP of Advocacy and Chief Operating Officer. Since then, she has built a strong new team of professionals who are determined, for the first time, to harness the power of our membership as volunteers and active participants in targeted campaigns. Wanda and other staff will soon undertake a nationwide tour to connect with our cross-country chapter network face to face.
In last year’s message, I said that we would put more marketing muscle behind CARP, and we did. As a result, CARP had a banner year with more than 43,000 new members joining our organization – our best new-acquisition number yet! CARP also launched a brand new website in June of ’16. The new site is sleeker, easier to use and provides extensive, helpful resources to aging Canadians and those who care about them and for them.
Since our last report, CARP Benefits Group has come up with a number of attractive new products, services and promotions. For example, innovative tie-ups with CareAngel and Caretrak provide caregivers with valuable tools; a ground-breaking relationship with CanniMed provides licensed members pharmaceutical-grade medical cannabis at preferred rates; while partners like Zoomer Wireless and promotions like the Esso Card provide outstanding deals that drive membership.
As always, CARP benefits every day from our special relationship with ZoomerMedia and its many resources. We receive considerable financial support, and we have frequent opportunities to tell our story on VisionTV’s flagship nationally distributed current affairs program theZoomer, ZoomerRadio’s Fight Back and Zoomer Week in Review and in the many pages of Zoomer
magazine that are devoted to CARP’s issues and personalities in each edition.
To close, I want to thank CARP’s more than 300,000 members for being the driving force behind our efforts in Advocacy, Benefits and Community. Many thanks as well to our dedicated chapters, affinity partners, national staff and board of directors. Together, we make real change for Canadians as we age. Moses Znaimer, President and Chairman on behalf of the Board of Directors