On October 30th and 31st I represented CPC Ontario Division at the Annual General Meeting of CPC National In Moncton, New Brunswick. Winnie Fraser-Mackay, President of CPC National, and co-host Ralph Smith, President of New Brunswick Senior Citizens Federation, welcomed the delegates and Andre Lapine, CEO of the New Brunswick Seniors Secretariat, brought greetings from the Government.

Prior to the AGM, The Board of Directors met. On the agenda an application for membership by COSCO(Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of British Columbia) representing a membership of 70,000 was heard and accepted.

The major focus of the AGM this year was to hear and review recommendations pertaining to changes to the By-Laws of CPC National. At the 2007 AGM Joyce Jones, Margaret Coates and Pat Brady, all from B.C., took on the task of preparing the recommendations with input from Bruce Mutch, Eva Kushner, and Christine Mounsteven, all from Ontario, and Don Holloway from Newfoundland.

The recommended changes to the By-Laws were reviewed and, after thoughtful and lively discussion and some changes, were accepted. The review took half of the first day and half of the second day. This did take a significant amount of time and in my estimation was time well spent.

The second day a presentation was given by Mary Ritchie, a Nova Scotia Community Health Services registered psychiatric nurse about current national statistics on depression and suicide and the services provided by Nova Scotia.

Winnie Fraser-Mackay and Art Kube, President, National Pensioners and Senior Citizens' Federation, led a discussion on the future and challenges for Canadian national organizations. There was agreement that the two organizations would look for ways to work together.

Winnie and Art had earlier in the AGM sent a joint press release to the news wire headed "Economic Meltdown Threat to Seniors". It was picked up and printed in a local Moncton newspaper.

Reports were presented by all of the provincial representatives in attendance, a very good way to hear what is happening across the country.

The afternoon concluded with a demonstration showing the impact Seniors Peer Helping Programs have on seniors living in isolation. The demonstration was conducted by Pat (National Secretary) and Ray Malone, trainers for Prince Edward Island programs.

It was agreed that the 2009 AGM will be held in Ontario.