It's unfortunate that in the last few decades there has been little consideration of the family unit. We've moved away from the family unit and we've pitted women against men. I think we need to return to looking at the reality of society and what the family contributes. It's difficult to measure accurately what it contributes. There's been a lot of funding going into one particular ideology, and what the government has to do at present is make a whole review of the different needs of society.
We weren't included in the Status of Women funding, so we weren't able to have input into their recommendations. We believe their recommendations were very one-sided, and the family unit has been neglected in taxation and in many other ways. Income splitting is just a small way of being realistic about how our society functions. That amount would be $5 billion a year.
Those who pressure for increased involvement of the government in family matters have been promoting a universal day care system, which really is a provincial responsibility. This would cost $15 billion a year, according to estimates around the year 2000, so it would be even more now. For example, Quebec's day care system is considered to be the ideal. When it started in 1998, it cost $2,000 per child. By 2005, it was up to $7,000 per child. Now it's pushing $10,000 per child, with no equivalent benefit directed to the at-home parent. So there are many inequalities.