Mr. Speaker, I too want to add my voice to the discussion on Private Members' Motion No. 30.
I am speaking as the mother of two wonderful daughters. I fully understand the difficulties many families face when choosing to work or to stay at home. This motion will help in making the decision easier for families. The efforts of the member for Mississauga South will balance the skills of equality between those who choose a two income household with the children in daycare and those families who choose to designate a parent to care for their children in their own home.
These proposed changes to the Income Tax Act will ensure that families can make the best choice for their needs. The disabled, the chronically ill and the aged in the home all deserve caring individuals.
The motion implies that the Income Tax Act discriminates against families who make the choice to provide care at home for the categories of people mentioned above. The motion appears to target the provision of the Income Tax Act which disallows the deduction of child care expenses by one earner couples.
In addition to the needs of children, Motion No. 30 considers the welfare of families caring for elderly and chronically ill family members. Those of us who listen to CBC Ottawa will have heard this morning a discussion of an individual who is caring for a parent who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. They noted the cost of care and the need that there is, especially in this day and age
when so many people are living longer and having ailments which deserve the care and nurture of family members.
Families with disabled family members face the greatest challenge of all. In these cases a lifelong commitment is required, not simply the assistance of family at the dawn or the sunset years of a family member. These families face a continual challenge to help a family member overcome their disability and to live a happy and productive life in Canada.
What is good about Motion No. 30 is that it says that the government can help without creating a big, expensive bureaucratic institution or program. With a few small additions and changes to the Income Tax Act, this motion would empower individuals to choose the best way to both work and care for their families.
The motion creates a policy that would recognize the value of work at home, provides more options for direct parental care, eases the demand for long term care and child care facilities, promotes work opportunities, promotes financial independence in the home and encourages a better quality of life for families.
I want to speak about some of the things the government is presently doing which will connect nicely with the intent of this motion.
The child care expense deduction helps parents who have modest incomes with child care expenses which they incur while earning income, attending school full time or taking an eligible vocational training course.
The child care benefit supplement is another program which helps parents who choose to remain in the home to raise preschool children. This year it is $213 for each child six years of age or younger. This is in addition to the regular benefit of $1,020 for each child.
There is also the working income supplement which helps low income working class families meet some of the extra costs relating to employment income, for example, child care and transportation to and from work. This relates to a non-taxable benefit of up to $500. Changes introduced in our 1996 budget will double the supplement to $1,000 by 1998. This will increase benefits to more than 700,000 working families by an average of $350 a year. While the working income supplement is available to two income families, it is also available to single earner families where one spouse stays at home as a caregiver.
It is important to note that this motion takes into consideration the needs, the care and the availability for individuals to stay at home and provide that care and to use the tax system as an incentive and as a way to encourage the nurturing and give support to families who need the supplement.
As indicated in the budget presented to the House on March 6, 1996 the WIS or the income supplement will provide maximum annual benefit increases that will range from $500 to $715 in July 1997 to $1,000 in July 1998.
The motion suggests tax assistance should be made available to families that provide in home care for elderly relatives or relatives with disabilities. Again tax assistance for people with disabilities and for the families caring for elderly or disabled relatives at home is provided by a number of existing tax measures.
I could go on to delineate the tax measures but I support the intent of the motion, that as a community and as Canadians we need to care about, think about and ensure that for individuals who give the care and nurturing in the home for preschoolers, people with disabilities and other groups that need specific care by their families that there is included in the tax system the necessary incentives and benefits.
We can argue the notion that the income tax system and the way it should operate and the projections as to the impact on our budget needs to be taken into consideration. It is too bad that somehow delineating the cost of the program was not indicated in terms of the impact on our 1997 budget.
There are good intentions in the motion put forward by the member in the care for Canadian families. I will support the intent of the motion and encourage that we find the ways and means by which we can attend to this motion in our ongoing consultations on what we need to do for Canadian families.
I stand in support of the motion.