Madam Speaker, the hon. member talks about a sensible budget. I would like to give him an example of what this sensible budget does to some ordinary people.
I have in my hometown a young single mother named Kathy McGuire. She works for the town. She tosses garbage cans. She looks after the water supply maintenance, whatever is necessary.
This woman by any definition is not wealthy. She has been hit with an income tax bill of $800. This is how this government repays people who work hard, who try their best to get along in the world.
If Kathy had been a wealthy Toronto lawyer she would have got a $3,000 child care expense deduction from her income tax. Actually, under the new budget it will be $4,000. But this woman cannot afford child care. So there is a catch-22. She is not eligible to receive that wonderful deduction. She is caught.
Kathy has contributed to the balancing of the budget. I am sure this makes her feel really great. She has also, if one wants to be a little more cynical about this, contributed to about 1% or 2% of the cost of sending four freeloading members of Parliament to Nagano to attend the Olympics.
I would like to know if the hon. member feels that this is appropriate, that people at the bottom end of the pay scale have to be hit with taxes. I hear some yapping over there. To some of these people $800 is not a lot of money. I will tell you, it is a heck of a lot of money to people who are out there doing their best trying to make a living.
On behalf of everyone in this place I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Kathy McGuire for forking out to help keep this zoo going and for helping to balance the budget.