Madam Speaker, it is a real pleasure for me to rise in the House today to speak to the motion put forward by my hon. colleague from Calgary Southeast. I am sure all hon. members of the House would agree that the motion and the debate today are not just about taxation but also about the family.
I have a huge stake in the Canadian family. I have eight children, as I have said before in the House. There is hardly anything that goes on in the country that I do not have some kind of opinion on because those eight children usually involve me in all kinds of things.
In my family of eight children we have two who are now married and have their own families. One family is a single income earner family. Another family is a two income earner family. My wife has been a stay at home mom for a number of years. With eight children that was very important. I think I know a bit about the kinds of huge pressures on family life today.
If there is anything we can do as parliamentarians in this place, it should be to pass legislation that helps the family. The family is still the essential building block of society. If we take away the family or damage the family unit in some way, we damage the country, the nation, the society we all love very dearly. This is not just about taxation; this is very much about the family.
Over the past several days and even today a number of hon. members opposite have talked about the wonderful budget of 1999 that is good for all Canadians. However, there is a group of Canadians for which the budget is not so good: single income families.
We have to get the facts before the Canadian public. If single income families earn $50,000, they will pay almost $4,000 more in tax than if both parents brought in the same $50,000. The common sense of the people ought to prevail. Surely we can see this is not right. It does not make sense.
The Liberals should not only take my calculations in this regard. They could listen to other authorities in the country who feel the same way: the C. D. Howe Institute, the Fraser Institute, the Vanier Institute or Statistics Canada. According to these authorities and numerous others, the family as a whole is paying more in taxes and the single income family is paying more than the dual income family earning the same amount.
What sparked the debate today were the remarks of the Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions. I do not want to go back over the words that he said. They have been replayed on every television channel across the country, but what he said sparked a huge debate.
Quite frankly I hear from people in my own riding, as I am sure other members in the House have also heard, that Canadian stay at home parents are outraged by this kind of statement. Whether or not the secretary of state meant it in the way he said, it was said and it has produced outrage.
Is this how little the government cares for Canadian families? Is it indicative of how little it cares for children? Children are very much a part of this debate. Is it how little it cares about changing the burdensome tax system it has created?
Actions always speak louder than words for any of us. If the government truly wants to change the public perception of the Income Tax Act in this regard, it has to change it. It has to produce action.
As I said before I understand these matters quite a bit. My wife has been a stay at home mom for a number of years. At a certain point in our lives she made the decision to quit her registered nursing career and stay at home with our children. We have fostered for many years and have many children in our home now because of that.
What did she do when she chose to give up her career, for which I salute her today? She chose to give up her career as a nurse in a hospital to be a full time nurse, chef, domestic engineer, entertainer, chauffeur, counsellor, comptroller and administrator with a host of other full time duties in order to raise our eight children. If that is not work, what is? That is work. When my wife heard the words of the parliamentary secretary we can imagine the deep groan that came from her.