Mr. Speaker, what I rebuke are the gutter politics of the member for Markham. Shame on him for taking an issue like this, an issue of fairness and equity for families, which he ought to agree with in principle, and taking it down to the gutter.
That member may not have recognized that the members of my party have engaged in a form of unilateral rhetorical disarmament with respect to that party. But as far as that member is concerned, that ends right now. Let me remind him who started the inequities for families in the tax code and who tolerated them for nine years. It was the Mulroney government. It was the PC Party which he represents which allowed this discrimination to seep its way into the tax code. It was that government which de-indexed the tax rate which has cost $11 billion to taxpayers since then. It has forced 1.2 million taxpayers on to the tax rolls since then.
Shame on this member for accusing the Leader of the Opposition of quoting from his scriptural book in a negative way. To bring a member's personal religious convictions into a policy debate like this is beneath contempt.
There are all sorts of ridiculous comments that have been made by members opposite in the last week which suggest a discriminatory attitude toward single income, stay at home parents. That is what we ought to be addressing our attention to, solving the problem which is creating enormous pressure on Canadian families, enormous economic pressure—