Mr. Speaker, I am happy that the member raised the issue of divorce and the costs. The member will well know that children are the real victims of divorce.
When we consider a couple, whether one or two are working, with the same income before and after divorce, the expenses are not the same. In fact divorce costs money because if anything there is a second residence to be paid for. That means the disposable income of a family usually is eroded substantially because of that. On top of that should they be unfortunate enough to have to go through litigation of some sort, the lawyers take a substantial portion. The member will well know that in a number of cases it will wipe out the family's savings totally.
The member, in the case he used, raised the question about a spouse not being able to deduct child support payments. He should know that child support payments have never been deductible by anybody. The issue is where is the income taxed.
The hon. member may recall the Thibaudeau case where Mrs. Thibaudeau went to the court. She said she received child support payments and that she did not want pay tax on it. She wanted her husband to pay all the tax on his income and not transfer that income to hers. What the member was describing and what he disagreed with was the court judgment on the Thibaudeau case. Maybe he wanted to suggest that we look at the Thibaudeau case.
Having said, that, I tend to agree with him that the Thibaudeau case actually exacerbated a situation in terms of the disposable income of those two people. The fact that a high income earner pays a higher rate of tax on marginal income and all of sudden this additional income for the spouse with a lower level of income probably is taxed at a lower rate. However it is not the same for all situations.
I make this as a comment. Maybe the member would like to offer his comments with regard to the importance of all of us working a little harder to make sure our families stay intact because everybody loses, particularly children, when there is divorce.