Merci, monsieur le président.
I want to give Mr. McTeague a chance to comment. I agree with the principle of Mr. McTeague's bill, but I do also agree with this amendment. I agree with the principle that we encourage parents to have the opportunity to contribute, that we use the tax system to make the contributions so that they prepare for their children's future, and that we improve the system we have now. It is quite a good system, but if we can improve on it with tax deductibility, I'm all for it.
The ones that concern me out there aren't the children of the wealthy; it's the children of the less wealthy and the working class who will have real trouble financing post-secondary education. I agree with Mr. St-Cyr's contention that this is balancing in favour of the wealthier, and you could even say that the less wealthy are subsidizing the wealthier because of the half-billion-dollar cost of this program in the tax sense. From that point of view, I would support Mr. St-Cyr's amendment.
I ask Mr. McTeague if he's had a chance to consider whether the bill as it would be amended by Mr. St-Cyr would still meet the great principles that he's advancing and putting forward with this good bill.