Committees - Advocacy

 

 

Representatives

 

 

For the 2011/12 year the Advocacy committee’s objectives are :

1) Develop further strategies and actions in support of the elimination of MSP premiums for seniors.
2) Act on referrals from the Board and other committees.
3) Maintain currency on advocacy strategies that have been found to be effective.

 

 

From the Summary of Reports 2011

Partly in response to the BCRTA’s budget woes of last year, the composition if this committee was changed for 2010-2011. It has been reduced from seven to five members, consisting of directors only. The role of the committee was also altered, to eliminate duplication with the work of other committees.
The Advocacy Committee no longer originates projects or activities. Instead it responds to requests from the Board or other committees for help putting together projects, activities or campaigns designed to maintain or improve the wellbeing of our members.
In December 2010, in response to a recommendation from the Pensions & Benefits Committee, we initiated our work aimed at convincing the provincial government to eliminate MSP premiums for seniors. Our rationale includes the unfairness of the fact that BC is the only province in Canada that requires seniors to pay this tax, and the fact that it is a regressive tax that impacts middle and lower income groups (including pensioners) far more heavily than it does the wealthy.
Due to there being no Advocacy Committee meetings between January and June, and no Board meetings between March and the federal election in May, we were unable to put together much of a plan for BCRTA involvement in the election. Thanks to Judy deVries and Cliff Boldt for their efforts to fill this void. The committee will be working on ways for us to be better prepared in the future.
During the remainder of this year the committee has focused its efforts on the MSP issue, working with COSCO representatives on strategies to encourage a positive response from both Government and the Opposition. The BCRTA is sharing in the tending of a table at the Union of BC Municipalities Convention in late September, to enable us to lobby municipal politicians to support a resolution favouring elimination of MSP premiums for seniors. We’re also asking branch presidents to try to assemble delegations to lobby municipal councillors at the local level. We’ll continue to work on this issue in the coming year.
My thanks to Cliff Boldt, Patricia Clough, Doug Edgar, JoAnn Lauber, and Sheila Pither for their contributions during what has been another interesting year.
Respectfully submitted
Bob Taverner, Chair

 

 

Report from the BCRTA Advocacy Committee Re its Meeting of June 23rd, 2009

The Committee chairperson shared a complimentary letter from a North Vancouver member regarding the "Advocacy and Politics" article in the Summer 2009 edition of Postscript.

Committee members drew up a plan for the 2009 Delegates' Day session set to evaluate 2008-2009 BCRTA Zone Meetings, and to consider their future. Plans were also drawn up for the D.D. session "Whither Advocacy: what do the members want?"

The Committee's 2008-2009 involvements were then briefly reviewed: initiating zone meetings; preparing election-related materials; raising the issues of criminal records checks and the BCTF's position on FSA testing; and reviewing aspects of the BCRTA's AGM and Delegates' Day activities and procedures.

Some preliminary consideration was given to the objectives for 2009-2010, and the meeting concluded with the sharing of a couple of humorous anecdotes.

 

 

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