Mr. Speaker, I sometimes think I speak in a vacuum and that it must echo across the way very hollowly. What is interesting is that I reminded hon. members opposite that some men stay at home, look after their families and do the unpaid work. I clearly said that. Maybe the hon. member was asleep at the time.
If the hon. member understands so well that some stay at home parents or some single income parents happen also to be single parent families, she should explain that to her members because they have been mixing up the words single income family and stay at home mom in their speeches all morning. As far as those members are concerned, those words can be substituted for each other. Maybe the hon. member might want to tell members opposite the truths of life.
I also think the hon. member talked about making judgments. It is the opposition members who make judgments. I think families should be able to make choices, whatever their choices.
Staying at home and looking after the family is a valid choice. It is a good one to make. That is why this government has been doing the groundbreaking international work on unpaid work in this country. We do understand there is a lot of unpaid work done by men and women. The reality is that the majority of it is done by women, but men do it too. We are interested in doing the right thing.
The hon. member talks about paying $4,000 for child care versus not paying $4,000. I do not know where she is because people cannot pay $4,000 a year for child care any more if they want to have someone look after their child properly. It costs about $1,000 a month. It costs about $800 a month minimum for a child in this country. Let the member do her math: 12 times $800 equals $9,600 a year. That is a lot of money. That is not $3,000. That certainly is not all deducted within the income tax system.
That is what it costs a dual income earning family when they go out to work. That is, in terms of treatment, what puts them behind the single income earning two parent family. That is what I took pains to repeat. I thought I was repeating myself too much, but it is obvious I did not say it over and over enough times. I do not know the number of times it would take to get the information across.