October 5th, 2011
Damien Wood, Airdrie Echo

It was all about family for the Wildrose party, as leader Danielle Smith put forward the last of its 15 policies Monday.

Family and children completed the 100-plus-page policy document, made available in full for the first time at the Magic Mountain daycare centre in Airdrie, the same place where Smith started her tour of policy revelations about a year ago.

Smith called Alberta's families and children the most important and fundamental constituents in the province.

"Albertans know and understand our families are the building blocks of our society, forming a critical link to our past, the solid foundation for our present and the best hope for the future," she said.

"It is government's duty to preserve and protect family.

"Our current government has failed to serve the interests of families; our tax system penalizes stay-at-home parents; child-care options are limited; social workers are overworked; and foster parents are underappreciated."

The policy calls for proposed fixes to those issues.

A Wildrose government, Smith said, would push to allow for income splitting between parents and weed out other painful tax law oddities for parents.

It would also seek to remove "red tape" from child-care grants, making them more flexible in what they can be used for.

And it calls for better protection of children in times of crisis.

"We'll begin by establishing a family resource centre hotline to provide a source for information, outreach services and community supports to relieve unnecessary pressure from our current emergency 911 system," Smith said.

"We will invest in proven community organizations and programs to assist victims of addiction and abuse.

"A Wildrose government would begin by reviewing our caseload management for our social workers to ensure they're not being overburdened ... we can't afford to be burning them out."

The policy package covers family and children, competitiveness, health care, seniors health and benefits, justice, social support, environment, energy, education, advanced education, property rights, agriculture, municipal affairs and federal relations

The complete policy can be found online at www.wildrosecaucus.ca, along with the first 14 policies.

Airdrie-Chestermere MLA Rob Anderson was also on hand Monday and said he expects premier-designate Alison Redford and the Alberta Progressive Conservative party to keep up their promise for new schools in Airdrie.

"There is not a community in this province that is in more desperate need of schools than Airdrie," Anderson said. "We need those three schools that were announced and we expect them."