The guest speaker didn't give speech at CARP luncheon. It was weird.

Moses Znaimer, the man who invented the term The Zoomer to describe senior citizens, was in Sudbury Monday to attend a special event organized by the local branch of CARP, formerly known as the Canadian Association of Retired People.

Since Znaimer took over as president of CARP, he is on a mission to ban the words "retired" and "old," and is leading a movement to give people over the age of 50 some clout with the government, advertisers and marketers.

But instead of speaking to the sold-out audience of about 300, a video was played that featured Znaimer, like a wizard of Oz, expounding on his views on aging baby boomers. Later, he answered questions from the audience.

He said his goal is to increase CARP's membership to one million so that it can have a political voice. In the past, the organization has lobbied successfully to end forced retirement in most Canadian provinces.

Many CARP members expressed concern he was branding seniors as rich and sexy, while ignoring their serious ealth and finance issues.

Znaimer, the co-founder of Citytv, answered his critics saying in essence there was nothing wrong with being old and having fun.

Being old is seen a negative thing, he said. For example, there is a great need for gerontologists to look after Canada's growing aging population, yet medical schools still graduate more pediatricians each year.

CARP has more than 900 members in Sudbury.