The Age of the Snowbird” is upon us. It is our time. After almost 15 years of lobbying and letter writing and meetings with politicians, including one mass demonstration, one TV special and one heck-of-a-lot-of-work, the Canadian Snowbird Association is on the verge of changing “The Rules”. We have had many successes over the years but the hard issues have always eluded us.

Our survey says that 81% of our people are worried about being able to travel in Canada. This is absolutely NUTS! Our politicians are not only deaf, they must be comatose. Every single Federal and Provincial politician in this country has been told what the primary problems facing snowbirds are. Freedom to travel, enough drugs to last for their trip, and payment of emergency medical bills at the same rate as if they were sick or injured in Canada. CSA even issues a Report Card to tell everyone the abysmal facts.

So, back to our survey. We believe, And the Survey Says…that the snowbird community had the highest voter turnout of any Canadian group in the last election. And we were outside the country on election day. That is where the real power lies, in the vote, and we are ready.

Jack Layton, the Federal Leader of the New Democratic Party, joins us for this issue of CSANews. It is a pleasure for us to bring his comments to you and, based on his interview, I believe he really is on our side. I would encourage Mr. Layton and all of his colleagues to follow up on his strong, and very appropriate, words with strong and immediate action.

We are going to win on our issues and we are going to win them soon. It IS our time. If your son is a politician, call him and tell him to get on our bandwagon. If your daughter is a politician, call her and tell her to fix this mess. If you even know a politician vaguely, call them up and tell them what you think.

We are very, very close.