REALity Volume XXXV Issue No. 4 April 2016

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) is a non-profit organization, consisting of 300,000 seniors aged 45 years and older. Membership provides amenities, such as automobile insurance, extended health coverage, financial services etc., for which CARP receives (undisclosed) royalties.  CARP is also a political organization that lobbies for the older generation, for example, for split pensions.

The President and CEO of CARP is media mogul Moses Znaimer, well known for his extreme liberal views on issues, such as abortion, pornography, homosexuality and euthanasia. He is a founding patron of Dying with Dignity (DWD).  Mr. Znaimer uses his multiple media outlets to promote his views on radio shows, TV networks and websites.

On January 27, 2016, Mr. Znaimer announced in a press release that, Susan Eng, Executive Vice-President of policy at CARP for the past eight years, had been fired. Her position has been taken over by Wanda Morris, most recently the CEO of Dying with Dignity (DWD), where she had led a campaign for legislative change on the right to die.  Under Ms. Morris, DWD changed its position from supporting assisted suicide but opposed to euthanasia, to an organization which is now a radical supporter of euthanasia.

Susan Eng, a former tax lawyer and former chair of Toronto’s Police Services Board, claims that her firing was due to her insistence that CARP take a neutral position on assisted dying, which, she claimed, was a matter of individual personal conscience. Her position was based on a poll she had conducted online to assess the attitudes of members of CARP.  The poll, completed by 2,700 people, indicated that CARP should maintain a neutral position on the issue.  This was not acceptable to Mr. Znaimer.

Who is Moses Znaimer?

In 1972 Moses Znaimer used pornography as an enticement to promote his Toronto TV Station, City TV. He did so by providing erotic films every Friday night, on a program known as “Baby Blue Movies”.  This soft-core pornography, drew fully two thirds of the television viewing public during the two hour period starting at midnight.  By providing pornography on mainstream TV, Mr. Znaimer permanently changed the media landscape with pornography now readily available to everyone who wishes to view it.

Also, this use of pornography allowed Mr. Znaimer to make money to incorporate his organization, called Zoomermedia, to purchase many other media outlets. Zoomermedia is Canada’s only diversified media company devoted to creating content, lifestyle and services, and experiences for the 45 year plus demographic.  Mr. Znaimer coined the word “zoomer” to cover supposedly “boomers with zip”.  His media company included the following purchases:

  • 2006 – classic radio station CFMX (96.3 FM) in Toronto. This station’s listenership is placed among the top six in Toronto’s crowded radio market;
  • 2007 – purchased “oldies” station AM 740 which reaches an older audience of half a million listeners from Thunder Bay, Ontario to the Carolinas in the USA;
  • 2008 – purchased several specialty channels, including Vision TV, which was a religious oriented channel. He also purchased several other predominantly Christian based TV channels. Religious programming is remarkably at odds with Mr. Znaimer’s personal philosophy. Because Vision TV is on basic cable, the channel, however, guarantees access to more than nine million Canadian homes for Mr. Znaimer. Not surprisingly, Vision TV has aired much more secular programming in recent years under Mr. Znaimer’s ownership.
  • 2008 – Zoomermedia purchased CARP and transformed its magazine, called “Zoomer”, into a show business like magazine directed to high end boomers, targeting mostly 45 to 65 year olds. This is the case, even though much of its circulation goes to people over 60 years of age. The latter, however, don’t dress like the chic models used in Zoomer magazine and do not look for high end makeup and clothes. Rather, their concerns are trying to keep the Canada Pension Plan intact, making sure personal life savings are not emptied out, and trying to improve the quality of life for those in nursing homes. Mr. Znaimer’s argument for catering to the young end of the boomer markets is that, “Forty year old people have 65-year-old parents, and 30-year-old people have 80 to 85-year old grandparents. So whether you buy Zoomer for yourself or for someone you love or for someone you’re damn well going to be responsible for, this information should be of interest to you.  That’s the big idea.”

Those who are currently members of CARP, but who respect life and are opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia, should perhaps consider transferring their CARP provided services, such as automobile insurance, etc., to another company. There is no doubt whatever, that the new CEO, Wendy Morris, and Mr. Znaimer will be using the organization as a political tool to further their pet cause of physician assisted suicide and euthanasia.