Growing up, family dinners were my favourite ritual. At the table, my dad, who worked at the Ottawa Citizen, and my mom, a nurse at the children’s hospital, would sit together and ask my sisters and me the same questions: How’s school? What did you learn? Tell us about your friends. But the conversations were not always focused on us. We often heard my parents talk about the financial struggles that they faced.

Like so many Canadians at the time, my parents were hit hard by the disastrous economic policies of the 1970s. Massive deficits and tax hikes led to runaway inflation. The drastic and rapid increase in mortgage rates did not just hurt their bottom line, it almost cost them our house. So they were always making choices.

In the summers, I would choose between baseball and football camp, going to the Ex or going to the movies. I understood that my parents couldn’t afford to do it all. Our family didn’t have a car, so we took the bus. We rarely went on big vacations. Instead, the extra money left over was put aside for the unexpected costs, like the special assessments from the condo board. My parents also knew that my mom’s health was always going to be an issue due to kidney failure, and when she got sick, their fiscal discipline meant they had the resources to pay for her assisted living. These were the kinds of conversations we had, and decisions we made as a family, seated around the dinner table in our townhouse in Ottawa.

But through it all, my parents worked hard and provided a great life for my sisters and me. And as my mom and dad were able to have a better quality of life then their own parents did, we were optimistic about our own future.

For the first time perhaps ever in the history of our country, there is a growing sense that the next generation of Canadians will not be better off than the ones that came before.

In this job, I get to travel and meet Canadians from all parts of the country. From coast to coast and everywhere I go across the country, I hear the same thing: Young families and new parents tell me they are under pressure and worried about their futures. There are bills, credit card payments, debts and mortgages. It all adds up. It’s young families — starting their careers and starting their families — who pay the most tax and are hit hardest by government tax increases. I hear that you have jobs, you're working hard, but you’re just getting by and you’re definitely not getting ahead.

Right now in Canada, more than 80 per cent of middle-income families are paying $800 more in taxes a year than they did in 2015. The cost of housing continues to skyrocket, and the carbon tax has meant that everyday necessities like gas, groceries and heating your home keep getting more and more expensive.

My focus is to put more money in your pockets and make sure that hard work is rewarded, so Canadian families can worry less about their futures.

Young families are the future of our country. They are the cornerstone of our society and the future of our economy.

It’s young families who buy homes, take public transit, put their kids in clubs and camps, and work long hours to save money for school and retirement. It’s young families who build connections, start businesses and create jobs. It’s young families who pass on our shared values of service, respect, duty and compassion.

No politician or government program can replicate this. That’s why a government that fails to recognize the challenges young families face will ultimately fail itself.

I truly believe that Canada should be a place “where no goal is out of reach,” because that is the kind of country Canada has been for me.

I’m a kid who grew up in a townhouse, in a family that didn’t own a car, whose mother lived with her eight siblings in a two-bedroom house on a dirt road, and today I am running to be prime minister.

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I want Canada to be that place for everyone.

I believe we need a new approach. We need new ideas and new policies to support you. I have a plan to put more money in your pocket, so you can worry less about your budget and bottom line and spend more time on what matters most for you and your family. I will continue to work every day to make sure that you — and your kids — get ahead.

Andrew Scheer is leader of the Conservative Party of Canada

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