I was very surprised to see an ad for the Ontario PC Party on the back page of the Fall issue of CSANews. I don't believe it is in the best interests of the Association to accept advertisements from any political party anywhere in Canada. An ad like this appears to give the impression that the CSA is endorsing the PC's in Ontario which is not very prudent. It is very possible that by the next issue there will be a different party in power in Ontario. I think it is very important that the CSA should be seen as an association willing to work with any political party for the benefit of its members.

Sincerely,
Mark Waldman

This was one of the most difficult decisions our editorial staff has had to deal with over the years. We were approached by the Ontario PC party to put in an ad relating to the election and to explain how snowbirds could vote while away. As CSA has no political affiliation of any kind, this was stepping into uncharted waters, for us. We have had several government agencies, in various provinces and federally, with NDP, Liberal, Reform and Conservative governments, purchase booths at our shows and ads in CSANews over the years, and this was an extension of this "advertising" in many ways.

We had endless discussions as to what we should do. We can always use the money, of course. We are very aware of the political landscape in Ontario and have good contacts, and have had meetings with all of the political parties on CSA issues. We were also concerned that if we did not accept the ad, it would damage the work we had done with the reigning (at the time) Conservative government. In the end, we decided to accept the ad for many reasons.

This created another problem, of course. Do we call and ask the Liberal and NDP parties to also place an ad? Again, after much internal discussion we did not do this. The Conservative ad came to us on an unsolicited basis, probably as a direct result of CSA attempts to get some of the Ontario laws changed. If we called the Liberal and NDP parties, we felt it would be a breach of confidentiality in telling the other parties what they were doing. We compared it to Medipac placing an ad in a newspaper, and the newspaper calling the competitors and telling them what Medipac was doing. This would be totally unacceptable and we felt we should not become involved in this type of somewhat unethical dealing.

In closing, I would like to assure you that our next member survey will ask our members what they think and expect of us, in these areas. What they tell us is what will be done in the future.

A very thoughtful letter, thank you.

I read your article about Ontario leading the way for TAX BREAKS FOR SENIORS. In fact BC HAS HAD THE SENIOR PROPERTY TAX BREAK ON EDUCATION FOR ABOUT 15 YRS OR MORE.

In BC it's called THE HOMEOWNERS GRANT, and as seniors you don't pay the school tax portion on your taxes.

For us in Victoria it's $655.92 a year, and it's deducted when you pay your yearly taxes (end June). There is another homeowners grant for NON SENIORS $470.00.

JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT Ontario is not always first at everything. The out come of your election certainly put the brakes on the planned tax break for mortgages and such.

I enjoy the snowbird mag.
Alex Badiuk

Thanks Alex, it would appear that the rest of the provincial governments of Canada could take some cues from B.C. This issue was a great first. The second should be the qualification for residential status. As outlined in the letter from the B.C. Ministry of Health Services, in order to maintain your residential status you are required to be in CANADA for six months of the year. This allows B.C. residents to travel freely within Canada instead of being confined to their home province. Not a universal truth for all Canadians.

Further to my discussions with your office about whether to use the Nexus Lane or not, I have taken your advice and talked to 2 different members of Nexus office in Blaine Washington and gotten two different opinions. My concern was that all the literature treats this lane as a commuter lane and snowbirds aren't really commuters. However, they also say that it's a lane for low-risk travellers to take the load off the border-crossing system and Snowbirds would certainly qualify as low-risk.

The first person that I talked to said that as long as we strictly followed all the guidelines and had our cards, then we could use it. Later, when I questioned the second one on some of the items we were planning to take with us to Arizona, he recommended we use the regular lane, especially since we weren't really commuting.

So, I think the bottom line is that if you aren't taking very many food products or any quantities of anything that might suggest you are going to sell it in the US, then you can use the lane. However, if there is anything questionable then you are better to go through the regular lane.

Because of the length of stay of most snowbirds in the US, it naturally means one takes a lot of "stuff". So, under the current rules, it doesn't seem that the Nexus lane is very beneficial for us and we have probably wasted $80 each plus the time and expense of a trip to Blaine Washington to get our cards.

We would be interested in hearing what experiences other snowbirds have had and whether they recommend using it.

Thank-you for your assistance.

Regards!
Dianne & George Kolenosky

There have been conflicting opinions about what value a NEXUS pass may have to snowbirds. Your practical experience sheds a lot of light on the subject. Thank you for sharing it with the rest of us.