This year marks CARP’s 25th anniversary.

It’s an opportunity to take stock of what we’ve done and to set our sights on the next 25 years. And if the events of the past few months are any indication, it will be an interesting time.

Last November, Canadians returned a minority Conservative government largely because they wanted a steady hand on the tiller to deal with the market turmoil but they also wanted the interventionist predilections of the opposition to pull the economy out of its death spiral. Later in the same month, the Harper government miscalculated. Not only did its Economic Statement provide no discernible economic stimulus, but it provoked the Opposition with proposals to cut public funding for political parties, remove the right of civil servants to strike and to make it more difficult for women seeking pay equity.

That’s when the circus started on Pariliament Hill.

To recap: in two short weeks, the opposition threatens a vote of non-confidence, forcing the Tories to backtrack. The opposition forms a coalition complete with its own economic platform, and Liberal Party leader St�phane Dion measures for the drapes in 24 Sussex. The Governor General prorogues Parliament. The Liberal Party agonizes over who gets to be Harper’s whipping boy, debates momentarily whether to wait for its May leadership convention while two contenders take a big step back, leaving Michael Ignatieff the last man standing. All this, well before the holidays even got underway!

Lost in all the political gamesmanship was any real relief for Canadians, who sat in disbelief watching the chaos in Ottawa develop while their retirement savings continued to evaporate. It must be said that in an Economic Statement that contained little else, the 25 per cent reduction in mandated RRIF withdrawals has to be seen as an indication that the government was responding to all your e-mails and letters to the MPs and the Finance Minister as well as all the media coverage CARP got on the issue across the country. Even the Opposition Coalition offered to increase that to 50 per cent, somehow forgetting that the Liberals themselves had called for a full two-year moratorium during the election.

By the time you read this, there will have been another throne speech and federal budget. We will keep the pressure on all the parties to better address the expectations of people hard hit by this economic crisis. CARP will calling on its members and chapters to continue to take an ever-increasing role in getting our message to the decision-makers at all levels of government.

But it is not all just dour earnestness. There is also room for celebration. To kick off CARP’s 25th anniversary in 2009, we will honour the top 25 Canadians who have done the most to improve the quality of life for Canadians as we age. A call for nominations will follow in upcoming issues of Zoomer magazine, CARPCARPCARPCARP Action Online (our semi-monthly newsletter) and www.carp.ca.

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