Mr. Speaker, the former Parti Quebecois government under Bernard Landry had established a network of five-dollar-a-day daycare centres by making two changes in the taxes that affect Quebec families.
Families with children have borne a large share of the tax burden in the past, and they still do so.
In an article in La Presse , on June 3, 2003, Claude Picher wrote:
The authors of the study concluded that 72% of Quebec families are financially worse off. Essentially, these are the households with incomes over $25,000; below that amount, you win, above it, you lose, and depending on various factors, you may lose between $389 and $608 per year.
The combined impact of the two measures, five-dollar-a-day daycare and Quebec's budget tightening, varies considerably depending on the size of the family, its income, the age of the children and many other factors.
Shame.