International T T
Lifeline for Travelers
ravel A he Canadian Snowbird Association
It’s a great time to be a Canadian snowbird. With a strong Canadian dollar and the US tourism industry having been hit hard from the economic downturn, you would be hard pressed to pick a better time to spend your winters in the sun. Despite the economic uncertainty, hundreds of thousands of Canadian travelers are finding the deals simply too good to pass up. Technological advances like the widespread availability of high speed internet access are allowing snowbirds to leave the Canadian winter behind, many, while they are still working.
No matter where Canadian snowbirds go to escape the cold, the one thing they have in common is that they are leaving Canada; and when you leave the country the rules of the game change. New destinations mean new laws, regulations, taxes, fees and health care systems. Without some vital basic information, your vacation has the potential to be memorable for all the wrong reasons. But who has time for that? You want to spend your time contemplating warm days on the golf course and pleasant evening breezes on the patio, not how you’re going to get the family cat through customs. That’s where the Canadian Snowbird Association( CSA) comes in.
The Canadian Snowbird Association is a national 70,000 member, non-partisan, not-for-profit advocacy and member service organization dedicated to actively defending and improving the rights and privileges of traveling Canadians. Canadians who embark on long-term travel still pay a full year
��������������������������������������
So what else do we do? We devote a great deal of time and resources providing our members with current information, and advice that will reduce the stress of traveling to a foreign country. On diverse topics ranging from foreign property tax rates, to information about what you can and cannot bring across the border, to how to import a vehicle from the United States - we have all the information that snowbirds will need to make wise and informed decisions before they embark on winter travel.
Come drive the Mexican Baja and enjoy sun, sand and surf with Baja Amigos RV Caravan Tours!
INTERNATIONAL 20
info@bajaamigos.net
www.bajaamigos.net
Mexico Camping since 1985 Call us at 1-866-999-BAJA (2252)
If you would like more information about the Snowbird lifestyle or how to become a member of the Canadian Snowbird Association you can visit us online at www.
snowbirds.org or give us a call at 1-800-265-3200.
Let us worry about the details so you can enjoy your well deserved time in the sun.
Michael MacKenzie Executive Director Canadian Snowbird Association
of taxes to the federal and respective provincial or territorial governments. They must, by law, pay for infrastructure and other government services that they do not use for a full year and, for the most part, they accept this.
The one thing they do expect is to have full and equal access to health care for which they pay taxes. Unfortunately, in many cases these taxpayers are denied the same benefits as those who remain at home. A resident of British Columbia leaves Canada on vacation and, in an emergency situation, requires medical attention. If they have to be admitted to a hospital, the B.C. government will reimburse them a maximum of $75 a day for emergency in-patient hospital care. This represents the lowest reimbursement rate in Canada. Hospital bills in the United States can literally be thousands or, in more serious situations, tens of thousands of dollars per day.
For the sake of comparison, the residents of Prince Edward Island can expect a maximum of $1055 per day; in Manitoba, residents will pay $571 per day. Even those rates don’t preclude the need to purchase supplementary insurance but they are far more representative of what those provinces spend on a daily basis to treat patients in their own provincial hospitals. The CSA doesn’t expect provincial governments to pay the high costs of a U.S. hospital stay but it does ask that they respect the spirit of the portability principle of the Canada Health Act and bump these rates up.
www.rvsnowbirds.com | October/November 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64