ENFIELD, Nova Scotia, March 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Christian Heritage Party, Canada’s pro-life, pro-family political party, will soon announce a new “Family Care Allowance” policy. The party says the allowance, if put into effect, would provide stay-at-home parents and family caregivers for the disabled and elderly with compensation for their sacrifice.
With a federal election campaign now underway, the CHP is continuing to emphasize their life and family platform, which includes defending human life from conception to natural death and protecting true marriage. Strong families mean a strong Canada, says the party.
Last week CHP leaders decided that their policy in favor of the so-called “Family-Friendly Child Care Allowance” did not go far enough. The allowance would have provided $1000 per month to assist families who chose to have one parent stay at home to care for children up to age 18.
CHP leader, Mr. Jim Hnatiuk, told LifeSiteNews.com that the party is “certainly sympathetic” to adults who must leave the workplace to care for aging parents or disabled family members.
Consequently, the care allowance will now “apply in the case when an immediate family member must leave the work place in order to be the primary caregiver for an aging parent or a disabled family member.” It will be called the “Family Care Allowance” (FCA).
“Not to say that that’s going to remove any of the compensation that the disabled person or the aging person would get. That would remain intact,” Hnatiuk told LSN. But “for that primary caregiver to make that sacrifice … we’re going to give them that compensation as well.”
Hnatiuk said that according to CHP’s inquires and a recent survey, 70 percent of Canadian families with two working parents said that if they could afford it, one parent would stay home to care for their children. That amounts to 2 million families, said Hnatiuk.
“When all’s said and done,” Hnatiuk explained, the $1000 they would receive through the FCA would be more than the average take-home wages of the second working parent. With $1000 per month, Hnatiuk said all the families they questioned thought “there was no questions asked, we would come home.”
“We see the family as the foundation for a stable society,” the CHP leader continued. “All legislation that goes through parliament should be looked at in how it’s going to impact the Canadian family. If it doesn’t, then parliament is failing us.”
Put into action, the CHP believes their FCA program would have far-reaching positive economic results. Enabling one parent to be home to care for children would open up 2 million jobs in the work force to be filled by other Canadians, reducing overall unemployment to 3-5 percent. It would thereby also reduce employment insurance (EI) and welfare payouts that they argue would, essentially, cover the cost of the FCA program.
Hnatiuk believes having a stay-at-home parent would further reduce crime and improve the health care issues, social welfare, and broken families of Canadian society. “A lot of the problems that we’re having with crime in the streets, jails their building, immigration that they’re bringing in … all that boils back to weak families, not strong families,” he said.
For the CHP, building a stronger Canadian family involves encouraging growth in families, reducing “uncontrolled” immigration, and protecting marriage and all human life.
Formed in 1986, the CHP made protection for the unborn its “top platform.” “It was the pro-life platform that was paramount in the minds and hearts of the founders of the party,” said Hnatiuk. “Today, it is still one of our priorities.”
All CHP candidates go through “integrity analysis” and must sign to the fact that they understand and agree to the party policy that there is never a reason for abortion and of recognizing the human person from conception.
“Our position in the CHP is we are pro-life without exception,” Hnatiuk told LSN. “There is never a reason to have an abortion. From conception to natural death. We believe it is from fertilization which happens before conception … so the morning after pill is an abortion.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Canadians should work to “change hearts,” not laws, to end abortion. Jim Hnatiuk doesn’t believe that goes far enough. “We have to change the laws as well,” he said, “change hearts and laws.”
“If we form parliament we would want the unborn to be listed as a person under the constitution and to be given all the other rights that every other person is entitled to in Canada,” said the CHP leader.
Hnatiuk concluded, “The CHP sees that once we have the family unit back – once parliament can grab a hold and recognize that in strengthening the family the amount of money poured out into all these other programs will certainly be reduced – we will have a healthier country because we have a healthier family.”
For more information on the CHP and their political platform, click here.