One of the most frequently asked questions that candidates have to answer during an election is: “What do you see as the number one issue facing this electoral district and what is your party prepared to do to remedy it?” Answer: “There are a vast number of troubling and growing concerns which, when packaged together, identify the number one issue facing this electoral district, and our party certainly has a remedy that will help." What are these concerns? Is there one single issue more important than all the others? As a candidate, I am asked what our party will do about:

• Helping our seniors. The baby-boomers are now entering retirement so this is a growing concern and it will increasingly compound over the next 15 years.
• The growing number of high school drop-outs and the increase in delinquency, crime and unsafe streets.
• The growing number of single parents and all the problems they face. Experts cite concern about money as the number one issue that causes marital conflict ending in divorce.
• The cost of daycare, and the fact that in many families, both parents have to work to make ends meet.
• Unemployment and lack of job opportunities in the electoral district.

What most other parties do not understand is that all these concerns, and more, can be positively impacted by strengthening the family unit. Healthy families are the cornerstone of a healthy community, and governments must do their part to protect and assist the family. CHP Canada’s Family Care Allowance is the very program that can demonstrate how this works. Our plan will give families $1,000 a month if either parent chooses to stay home and raise their own children. This allowance will also apply in the case where an immediate family member must leave the workplace in order to be the primary caregiver for an aging parent or a disabled family member. People ask where the money will come from for this program. Surveys reveal that more than 70% of families where both parents are working outside the home would rather have one parent stay home, if they could afford it. So, with the Family Care Allowance in place, it is estimated that one and a half million parents who are currently working will return home to care for their children, and they will receive $1000 per month. That will open up one and a half million jobs for those who are unemployed. So, instead of paying people who are unemployed (since they will now have jobs) the money will be redirected to pay the parent that decided to stay home to raise his or her children, or to the adult child who left the workplace to take care of aging parents or a disabled family member. No additional taxes need to be collected; unemployment would be virtually cut in half; and the overall result will be much stronger families. Studies show that parent care is the best care, and that children raised in a home where one parent is the primary caregiver are less likely to get into trouble. So, it’s easy to see why our number one plank addresses not just one, but all of the top issues facing Canadians. With this program in place, we’ll have stronger families, help for our seniors and the disabled, safer streets and healthier communities, more jobs created, less delinquency, and fewer broken homes. That’s a plan worth voting for!