You asked for it and you got it

May 13th 2011: In the CARP Poll™ you completed just before Canadians went to the polls on May 2nd, you said you wanted a Conservative majority, you were steadfast in your support for the Conservative Party but your responses also reflected the rising NDP support and the precipitous Liberal fall.

41% wanted a Conservative majority
44% supported the Conservatives
34% believed that Stephen Harper would fulfill his own promises

However, just 23% of you believed the Conservatives would offer Canadians policies as good as those promised by the Opposition parties. So pressure would be needed from the Opposition.

You thought that the NDP would be most likely to give you the best elements of all the party platforms on issues that particularly matter to you, pension reform, caregiver support, eliminating poverty among pensioners and dealing with elder abuse.

So now the real work begins.

The next step is to make these promises a reality. The government should mention them in the Throne Speech – that’s where the government sets out its priorities to Parliament and where the Opposition MPs get the chance to accept or argue for better.

Then, funding for the promises must show up in the new Budget.

Finance Minister Flaherty has already said it would be the same as the March budget with some “tinkering”. In your answers to the CARP Poll™, you said the budget proposals were good but the opposition proposals were better. So why be satisfied with the least of the options?

This is the time to make sure all the MPs know what you want in the throne Speech and Budget. If your MP has not changed, CARP E-Voice is still a good option. The email addresses for the new MPs are not yet available at this writing. So we have sent a welcome message to all MPs by mail – it still works.

There has been unprecedented attention paid in this election to issues that resonate with older Canadians – and for good reason, you always vote. Every party made promises to address pension reform, caregiver support, eliminating poverty among pensioners and dealing with elder abuse. And now that there is a strong majority government with an Official Opposition Party that was even more expansive on those promises, there will be no excuse for not acting on these pressing issues.

Stay tuned. Things are moving a lot faster than they used to.

Keywords: election