Mr. Speaker, I remind the hon. member that the budget offered no tax relief. It was not a balanced budget, which we had hoped for, at least for 1997-98, which we certainly could have achieved.
The debt is climbing at a tremendous rate. The debt was not mentioned. We keep talking about the deficit. The deficit may be decreasing but the deficit could also disappear if it were handled correctly. What about the debt? The debt is growing. What are we doing about the debt? That is the serious issue.
In particular, the hon. member mentioned there were no tax increases. The new child support package, which will come into effect on April 30, 1997, raises some concerns which relate to what I call tax increases.
One of the concerns is no deduction, no inclusion. That is the new role of the day. The parent paying support will no longer have an incentive and so they might default. It might be easier for them to default now. It probably will happen. Wonderful people that they may be, these are difficult times.
If this is the case, we may see that it will be more difficult for them to find the money. If the incentive is not there for deductions, we may see this occurring. We may have a new social problem erupting before our eyes, or rather an increased one because some of that occurs right now. It may be an enlarged social problem which will come about. That will make it very hard on the parent trying to support a child and counting on that support.
If the person paying support no longer receives a deduction, that is a tax increase. Therefore I disagree that there are no tax increases.
Will this cause a present problem to become larger, requiring more taxpayer dollars to be spent as a watchdog or as a guideline to keep these people paying? That will be costly to the taxpayer. Who pays when the courts get involved? The taxpayer. That is a tax increase.
The second concern with respect to the new rules announced is that the Minister of Finance can make it retroactive. I fear this will open the flood gates for more litigation. Either the payer or the recipient could sign and file for change. That will lead to enough litigation among family law lawyers across the country to ensure that very few of them will be sitting idle. Who will pay the cost of the court cases or even of the new actions which may succeed with mediation only? That is another tax increase.
Nothing in today's world is as costly and expensive as court cases. Courts are expensive and divorced parents have enough hardships to overcome. Do the children want to be reinvolved in more hassles this litigation will open up? They do not need to put in more time, more energy, wasted energy, that this new legislation will make possible.
I realize we have a problem right now with the legal profession. The Globe and Mail the other day stated some lawyers are not able to pay their fees to the law society. I can see this being a major problem.
However I am concerned that this almost seems like an attempt by the government to open up a flood gate, and so now we have all these new cases and for what purpose? I wonder if the member could comment on this. How does she feel this legislation will help people?