That's what your document says, so I thought I'd correct that just to make sure we're on the same wavelength.
I just want to understand something. There are a number of things you said this morning. One was about incentives for families to not split; the other one is income splitting.
I come from a poor family; that's where I grew up. My mom and dad worked. My father worked construction and my mother worked in a factory. Giving us income splitting wouldn't have made any difference. We could never have saved money to buy a house. We would not have had enough money to raise four children. It would not have helped: $4,000 does not make that big a difference in this scenario.
This committee is looking at the issue of poverty, not people who are on the border or above the poverty line. We're talking about poverty, so that wouldn't do them any good. This is not to mention that the single, lone parents, who you mentioned earlier and identified as a major issue, would not benefit. You also mentioned birth rates, and the Quebec birth rate has actually gone up, but it's been done by giving families choice, not income splitting. It's been done by having a proper parental leave, which most European countries do have, up to three years. But children need help beyond three years; they don't walk off and look after themselves after three years of age.
I don't see how income splitting, just the way it has not worked for seniors.... In the ten buildings I visited on Mother's Day to deliver carnations a couple of weeks ago, 80% of the people living in those buildings were women, alone, single. That measure we had in the previous budget not too long ago did absolutely nothing for them.
Can you tell me how it actually would reduce poverty by having income splitting? That's number one.
The second question is this. I still don't understand your incentives to encourage people to marry or stay married. I want to understand a bit better how you would work that. Those are two very important areas for me to understand, because from my own experience and everything I've seen, I don't see how you would make it work.