Mr. Speaker, I certainly do not intend any offence to any members or anyone with regard to those comments. I am not an expert in these matters, but I have done enough research.
I refer the member, for instance, to the Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access and its study on the Divorce Act. It wrote a report called “For the Sake of the Children”. If the member looks at that he will find that there was a clear majority opinion, which I think was unanimous, that both mothers and fathers have an important role to play in the lives of children.
Second, I wrote a monograph called “Tragic Tolerance…of Domestic Violence”. It is on my website. If he looks at that he will see that the incidence of domestic violence in married relationships is less than it is in common law and same sex relationships. That is not my view; that is the research. That is Statistics Canada.
Finally, if he wants to talk about lone-parent situations, I am aware of it. I wrote monographs entitled “Strong Families...Make a Strong Country” and “The Child Poverty Solution”. Very clearly, the latest statistics from campaign 2000 say that 15% of the families in Canada are lone-parent families, but they account for 54% of all children living in poverty. One cannot deny the facts. Children have a better start in life, a better outlook, and a better possibility of having successful lives in adulthood when they are in a secure, consistent attachment with engaged, committed adults. That is marriage.