Mr. Speaker, this is National Crime Prevention Week. The direct and indirect costs of crime are likely $35 billion to $46 billion annually, with government expenditures on criminal justice almost $10 billion a year. Crime costs us more than education.
Why has this national disaster come about? A main contributing factor is the decline in the foundational role the family plays in child development and the transmitting of spiritual and social values. Mothers and fathers in the home foster the necessary emotional development during a child's formative years.
Governments over the past 30 years have undermined secure families and healthy homes.
A Globe and Mail writer said of Reform's fresh start that tax changes would take 1 million low income families off the tax roles and increase child tax benefits a whopping 80 per cent. Families under $30,000 income would see nearly all federal taxes erased.
Reformers believe strong and secure families are our real crime prevention program. It is the family, stupid, I say.