Madam Speaker, earlier this morning, a call came in at my constituency office, which I quickly returned of course, via my Ottawa office. It was a call from the AFEAS group in Quebec.
Women are extremely disappointed with the latest Martin budget, especially as concerns the calculation of the amounts women will be eligible to. From now on, it will be based on family income instead of personal income. This is yet another low blow, especially to women who have been away from the labour market and will be hard hit.
In my region, at Garthby, Beaulac and Disraëli in particular, a letter writing campaign is being staged to raise the finance minister's awareness of the injustice of the poverty issue in this country, because the hon. Minister of Finance, being a very rich man, is naturally above all that.
I would like the hon. member opposite, who supports the budget brought down by her finance colleague of course, to tell me if she at least has compassion for the women who will be the most affected by this calculation based on family income.