Over two full days of meetings and videotaped interviews, Advocacy Vice President Susan Eng engaged MPs, party leaders, senators, and cabinet level government officials on the issues that matter to all older Canadians.

CARP met with a number of MPs who focus officially on seniors’ issues, including Judy Sgro (Liberal Critic for Seniors and Pensions), Raymond Folco (Liberal MP), Wayne Marston (NDP Critic for Pensions), and Olivia Chow (NDP Critic for Seniors).

In addition to the MPs, CARP met with Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff, the leaders of the NDP and Liberal Party, respectively and with Senator Nancy Ruth. CARP also had a long and productive meeting with Diane Ablonczy, the Conservative Minister of State for seniors’ issues, a cabinet level post. The meetings were a true back and forth, with CARP reiterating the importance of older Canadians as voters and identifying a number of key issues that need concerted political attention, including home care and national caregiving support, pharmacare, ongoing pension issues, and the need to eliminate mandatory retirement in federally regulated industries .

The video of this whirlwind tour of the Ottawa elite is now available on CARP’s new and improved ultra user-friendly CARP Videos page. Click here to visit the new video page!

Keywords: seniors, caregivers, pension reform