Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the issue of Canadian residents temporarily using American-plated vehicles in Canada. My name is Evan Rachkovsky. I am the Director of Research and Communications at the Canadian Snowbird Association.
For the members of the committee who are not familiar with our organization, let me provide you with a brief overview. Founded in 1992, the Canadian Snowbird Association is a national, non-partisan, not-for-profit advocacy organization dedicated to actively defending and improving the rights and privileges of Canadian travellers. Today the CSA has grown to over 110,000 members who come from every province and territory in Canada.
To fulfill our mandate and provide meaningful results for our members, our association delivers timely travel-related information for our membership and works with government at all levels to pursue policies for the betterment of Canadian travellers. We not only provide our members with up-to-date information; we also have a government relations program that is wide-ranging and includes the defence of the Canada Health Act—namely, the portability principle; the provincial and territorial drug program vacation supply policies; residency requirements related to continuous health coverage; and a number of cross-border issues.