Madam Speaker, on budget night I had the opportunity to view a program where representatives of various parties received telephone calls on CPAC.
There was one call from a gentleman on a CPP disability pension who was getting about $10,000 a year. He also had a dependent child. He indicated that the budget should have done something for him so he did not have to pay $600 on his $10,000 income. The member who spoke said that this was shameful and outlined some of his party's policies on how we should extend other tax concessions so that some of his rich friends do not have to pay as much tax.
The member suggested that we think it out. I wonder why he did not think it out and suggest to the caller that if he made only $10,000 and had a dependent child, that he could have claimed the equivalent to spouse exemption as well as his own exemption which would accumulate to more than $10,000. The person would not pay any tax at all. The member should have advised him to refile his tax return and to continue to claim the equivalent to spouse exemption and not pay the tax. In addition he would receive the GST credit and the Canada child tax benefit. There was good news for that caller but the member decided he was going to play partisanship rather than help Canadians.