Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concern with the discriminatory nature of the Income Tax Act, particularly the child care expense deduction.
Calgarians Jim and Laurie Boland were recently told in Federal Court that a parent who chooses to be at home with their child is not entitled to the same privileges as those who pay for child care.
The Income Tax Act admittedly denies the Bolands equal benefit under the law, but because stay at home parents are not a "discrete and insular minority" they are not protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This legal discrimination must stop.
Parents should be free to choose the form of child care which best suits their situation as opposed to having government reward one choice over another.
In this, the International Year of the Family, it is my intention to introduce a private member's bill on the topic of equal child care assistance to all needy families, regardless of the type of child care they choose.