Madam Speaker, the budget and in particular the new child support package do contain measures with respect to enforcement.
Contrary to members of the third party who seem to feel we should look to the Income Tax Act to induce spouses to support their children, we believe that responsibility is there regardless of the Income Tax Act. We believe that parents under a court order or who have an agreement to pay certain amounts should meet those obligations. I think we all believe that parents have that obligation whether or not they have a written agreement to that effect. It is one of the fundamental principles of being a parent.
In specific terms we are proposing as part of the program to deal with chronic default, with which the hon. member was concerned, a number of features: a federal licence suspension initiative; extended searches to trace defaulters; broader powers for the diversion of federal pensions; generally supporting those ideas with enhanced consultations with the provinces. To a great extent this is a matter of provincial jurisdiction. We are working very closely with the provinces on this matter which is of interest to all Canadians.