I know there are probably times when these families have questioned which is easier: to remain as a stay at home parent or to stay in the workforce. It is a decision that many Canadian families have to make. The real question, however, perhaps should be: Which is more worthwhile to them personally? How do they want to raise their families?
I acknowledge that many families do not have the option of having stay at home parents. There are many single parent families in Canada today, and for these families the parent must play the part of both mom and dad. They must be the breadwinner. They must attend to the multitude of needs of their children. In many other situations both parents need to work outside the house to make ends meet financially, and I salute these people.
It is interesting to note that if Canadian families had their way and the opportunity to do what they wanted in this situation, 70% of women have said that they would stay at home if they had the choice. In a 1994 Angus Reid poll 77% of Canadians said the individual or family should have the primary responsibility for child care.
Throughout the budget process we have heard about the need for equality among Canadians. What we are speaking about today is not equality; it is inequality. Simply stated, Canadian families that are able to make the choice of having one parent at home to raise their family will pay more tax than the family that earns the same total amount of money through the combination of both parents. The government penalizes them for wanting to raise their own families. It is as simple as that. Is that equality?
The government claims that it has balanced the books. The budget has been balanced at the expense of Canadians, not at the expense of the government. Let us look at how the budget has been balanced: 76.7% of the balancing came from higher tax revenues; 14% came from slashing health and social transfers; 7.2% came from cutting transfers to individuals; and a minuscule 2.1% came from cutting federal spending. This government should be ashamed for even bringing this budget forward with these kind of statistics. The hon. members opposite face some very serious questions not only here in the House but in their own ridings. They will have to answer to the Canadian public for this kind of juggling of the figures.
If we are to fully grapple with the question of applying tax equality to all families we need to look at the benefits to society offered by stay at home parents. We have seen from previously mentioned reports that this is not the choice of 77% of Canadian women. The question begs to be asked why they do return to the workforce. They have to go to work because they are taxed to death. That is the reason one of the members of our family circle has had to go back to work. The mother of that family has had to go back to work because her family has simply been taxed to death.
That is unacceptable. We must have comprehensive tax reform that brings equality to all families. The motion today is a small step along the way to achieving that. I ask all members to support it.