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Stephen Lewis moves Annual Meeting participants First, delegates reached for the tissues. Then, they reached for their wallets and their cheque books. Such was the power of the words spoken by keynote speaker Stephen Lewis at CHF Canada’s Annual Meeting. Thanking The Co‑operators for sponsoring his appearance, Lewis indicated how pleased he was to speak to the members of CHF Canada. “I feel as though I’ve found my ideological home.” Lewis referred to his efforts on the issue of AIDS in Africa. He called on Canada and other industrialized countries to “finally deliver on the resource promises which have been betrayed time and time again over the past 35 to 40 years.” Criticizing what he called an “orgy of self-congratulation” regarding recent debt relief announcements, Lewis said that members of the G8 “should be on their knees apologizing for what they’ve done to the continent.” To illustrate the need for doubling resources for the developing world (to, among other things, deal with the impact of the AIDS pandemic), Lewis told a series of stories about the situation in Africa, including several that had many in the room in tears. In response to his speech, CHF Canada President René Daoust announced that we were contributing $2000 to the Stephen Lewis Foundation, to assist with AIDS relief in Africa. This promise was followed by a series of pledges from sector organizations and individuals which, combined with the money collected from those in the room, totalled $14,500. To make your own contribution, go to http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/you_donate.htm. Housing minister announces fix for Section 95 glitch Federal housing minister Joe Fontana used the CHF Canada AGM to announce that no further subsidized units would be lost to the Section 95 subsidy glitch. The flaw, which has been reducing co‑ops’ subsidy every time their mortgage renewed at a lower rate, has been fixed, effective January 1, 2005. He described this as a $72 million contribution to affordable housing. But the announcement is only a partial solution to the problem. Co‑ops have seen the number of members they can subsidize reduce over the terms of the agreement and those losses have not been restored. Many co‑op members are paying more for their housing than they can afford and people who need subsidy may spend years on waiting lists. CHF Canada is happy that the Minister was able to meet this commitment. But more needs to be done to help desperate Section 95 co‑ops and their members. Members passed a resolution to continue with the campaign to help Section 95 co‑ops. Fontana was one of many political guests, including deputy prime minister Anne McLellan, who welcomed delegates to her home ciy of Edmonton, and NDP leader Jack Layton. Goodbye to Alexandra Wilson CHF Canada paid tribute to Alexandra Wilson, who stepped down as Executive Director after 15 years. During her tenure, CHF Canada has enjoyed solid membership growth, stable finances, and a vision that led to the creation of a new national agency to administer co‑op housing programs. She will be missed. Networking sessions Networking sessions were an exciting addition to the AGM. They allowed members attending the AGM an opportunity to attend a lunch meeting and discuss their chosen topic in an informal setting. CHF Canada first surveyed the membership on our website to find the most popular discussion topics. Here are the notes from these sessions, in Acrobat (pdf) format:
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