Joined by two Olympians, Vancouver Island North Conservative candidate John Duncan announced Monday that a re-elected Conservative government would double the Children's Fitness Tax Credit and introduce one for adults once the budget is balanced.Duncan was joined at the Comox Valley Sports Centre by senator and Olympic gold medal skier Nancy Greene Raine and supporter and Comox Valley Olympic swimmer Susan Kelsey."Our government is here for Canadians. If re-elected, we'll continue to implement targeted measures to encourage Canadian children and adults to be more active and healthy," said Duncan who pledged to increase the Children's Fitness Tax Credit from $500 to $1,000, and introduce a similar $500 credit for adults."Already there's 1.4 million Canadian families that take advantage of that credit. It's been something that many of the organizations across the country say would be a very positive measure. Studies indicated this would have a very strong, positive impact on not only our well-being, but on our heath care system."In 2007, the Conservative government created the Children's Fitness Tax Credit. There are currently 7.5 million Canadian adults who participate in sports and fitness activities. "If you look at the demographics across Canada, you have two challenges. One, you have a lot of people my age who need to stay in shape and stay active within the community ... the second is to really look after our young people ... we have a crisis with young people with being overweight and out of shape," added Raine.Duncan noted that as Canadians are responsible for their individual health and fitness, the tax credit does not stream people into a particular program or group, rather, it allows Canadians to make choices as to where they would like to participate."These are responsible and affordable measures and they can be done without raising taxes," he said.Duncan added the reason the Conservatives would wait until the budget is balanced is because they want to be prudent."We do fully expect to balance the budget in 2014. If you look at the budget that was tabled in March, the deficit is $300 million, so we've gone from a $300-million decifit to a balanced budget ... we're only talking three years away," he noted.photos@comoxvalleyrecord.com