TORONTO, Sept. 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CARP is asking Canadians to make caregiving an election issue in October. Today, it launched a national campaign #credit4caregivers, with a heart-wrenching video, to highlight the burden of Canada’s millions of unpaid caregivers. Watch the video here.
“Caregiving impacts every Canadian family. It should be a national issue this election,” said Marissa Lennox, CARP’s Chief Policy Officer. “As a country, we need to do a better job of supporting the family members who do this invaluable work. CARP is calling on all federal leaders to commit to making the Canada Caregiver Tax Credit a refundable credit to ensure all caregivers are treated equally.”
Caregiving is a key priority for CARP in its FACES of Canada’s Seniors policy platform. “We launched our policy platform last Fall to ensure the issues that matter most to our 320,000 members get the attention of our political leaders,” explained Ms Lennox. “Family caregivers save our health care system over $25 billion annually. That’s unpaid labour that’s being shouldered by millions of Canadians -- over 1 million of whom are over age 65.”
“Caregiving is a full-time job,” explained Ivan Mojica who is featured in CARP’s #credit4caregivers video and campaign. “Since my mother-in-law’s stroke, we’ve gone from a dual income to a single income family so I can be her primary caregiver. That’s had a huge financial impact on my family. Making the tax credit refundable would really help people like me who had to give up paid work.”
CARP is asking all Canadians to watch the video and share it with their friends, family and local candidates on social media using #credit4caregivers, #elxn43, and #cdnpoli.
About CARP
CARP is a non-profit, non-partisan association representing more than 320,000 older Canadians across Canada. We advocate to uphold the rights and improve the lives of Canadians as we age. CARP’s policy platform, The Faces of Canada’s Seniors, urges government to support affordable and safer long-term care options across the country. www.carp.ca.
Contact:
Marissa Lennox
Chief Policy Officer, CARP
media@carp.ca
416-648-4917
Meghan Lauber
Lytton Communications
416-200-9869
A video accompanying this release is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/18ef4664-4f08-4124-b945-097e9710f07f