This issue continues to pop up in my riding. I wrote an MP report about it, and I've received telephone calls as well as emails from single parents. Largely, I must admit, these are women, but I have had a case in my riding, in Merritt, involving a father.
What typically seems to happen is that there will be a split-up of a relationship, but the spouse who leaves files their income taxes as if they were still living in the same home. CRA will then say, we're not going to give you this benefit, because we assume that you and your ex are still living together and that your income is thus much higher. Basically, you're guilty until you can be proven innocent.
I'll give a case of a teacher in my area who had to go to her principal to write a letter to state that she was no longer cohabitng with her ex. This was very degrading to her. Another woman who contacted me was told by CRA that she would need to show that she was actually divorced from her husband. She went and got the paperwork and they still refused her.
This is an issue where people rely on those benefits, and we need to be mindful of who suffers the most when this happens. It's the children who are supposed to be getting the support of the Canada child benefit.
It would be a very beneficial study. I'm sure that if we decide to go forward with this, many people will be contacting their MPs, because this is a widespread problem. As I said, it's not just germane to British Columbia but right across the country.
I would hope that members would look at this as being a situation where, first of all, people who pay their taxes, file their taxes and work in good faith should receive the benefits they are owed under law; and second, if there are inequities brought in, in the way the benefit is given—or in this case, not given—we should be looking to see if the bureaucracy can offer better forms than making someone go to their employer to comment on something that is completely none of their business.
I would just ask members to look at that and to say emphatically that there are many people suffering and this is one way we can try to make the system better.