B.C. Liberal leadership candidate Christy Clark unveiled details of her family-first plan Tuesday.
The party membership sign-up ended last Friday, and now candidates have turned their attention to securing the support of party members for the Feb. 26 vote that will determine who the next B.C. Premier will be.
Clark is the only candidate who has issued new or expanded policy statements since the sign-up closed.
Clark is also reported to be the candidate who has gathered the most new members, claiming as many as 25,000 new members.
Kevin Falcon has claimed 17,500 new party members, Mike de Jong another 10,000.
The Liberal Party said Tuesday 50,000 new members were signed up, bringing total membership to around 90,000.
Clark said the principles of of her family-first plan will be job creation, empowering people, modernizing the province's approach to healthy families and building safer communities.
"Looking at government decisions through a family lens is at the heart of my approach. When a decision comes before cabinet, I want the question to be asked and answered: how does this affect B.C. families?" said Clark in a statement.
On Tuesday, she promised to spur new business by introducing a business creation tax credit and offering a partial refundable payroll tax rebate to eligible start-up businesses in their first year.
Clark also reiterated her position to put the proposed $800-million Prosperity mine near Williams Lake at the top of her priority list. Clark has said the mine -- rejected by the federal government because of environmental and First Nations concerns -- should go ahead.
As part of her plan to empower people, Clark said she would eliminate the training wage, and increase the minimum wage.
On Clark's list of items to modernize the province's approach to healthy families is boosting B.C.'s caregiver tax credit, focusing on the growing challenge of dementia and strengthening the role of non-profit organizations.
Clark also plans to establish a strategic plan for policing, promising a more detailed plan on public safety in the coming days.
As the leading candidate in the polls, Clark has been the focus of criticism by the other leading candidates, Kevin Falcon and George Abbott.
Abbott said Clark's strategy to reduce health care spending to the rate of economic growth was unrealistic and oversimplified.
Applying Clark's logic would meant slashing health care spending by $750 million, said Abbott.
Falcon has been calling for a more open debate format, which likely would play to the MLAs who've had more recent government experience. Clark left the Liberal government in 2005 and is on a leave of absence from her job as a radio talk-show host.
Political scientist Norman Ruff said Clark's recent policy pronouncements are an effort to put some substance to her campaign, which has been criticized for gimmickry. She was criticized when she called for a new Family Day holiday to be created in the spring.
"They are fighting for the votes, and they'll be attacking each other," said Ruff, a professor emeritus at the University of Victoria.
Ruff believes there is an anybody-but-Christy-Clark movement afoot. That means that second preferences on ballots will be important if the Liberals decide this weekend to endorse a new party voting system.
