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| A stay-at-home
free-for-all MPs trade shots over tax bias for parents at home |
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| Thursday, March 11,
1999 By Tim Harper OTTAWA - Senior Reform and Liberal women squared off yesterday, trading charges over which party is more demeaning toward women and which side of the House of Commons is trying to keep Canadian females ``barefoot and pregnant.'' But both may have been upstaged by Reform MP Art Hanger, who was telling reporters outside the Commons that women in the military should be transferred to clerical duty the moment their pregnancy is known. The day marked some of the lowest points in the ongoing debate over the tax treatment of stay-at-home parents, an issue which has unexpectedly dominated the Commons for almost two weeks. Liberal cabinet minister Hedy Fry accused opposition Reformers of trying to keep mothers in the home. ``When we take all of these divisive statements being made by the Reform party, (then) what we are trying to do is keep women barefoot and pregnant,'' Fry said. That drew an angry retort from Deborah Grey, Reform's deputy leader, who responded as ``a Reform woman.'' ``I am not in favour of being in the kitchen necessarily, unless I have that choice,'' said Grey (Edmonton North). ``When I am at home, I am not in the kitchen, I am at Swiss Chalet, so there.'' Grey quoted Fry saying anyone who wants to end tax discrimination just wants to keep women in the kitchen. Fry quoted Grey as saying ``we should try to keep mothers in the home. That is where the whole Reform party hangs together.'' Neither indicated any context for the supposedly damning quotes. The debate continued the day after a Reform-led motion to ``end discrimination against single-income families with children'' was defeated by a vote of 145-123. Under the current system, a single-earner family with children with $60,000 in income pays $16,196 in income tax, compared with $12,188 for a double-income family with the same earnings. The difference is that the two-income family can deduct child-care costs. Finance Minister Paul Martin has referred the matter to the Commons finance committee. As soon as the Fry-Grey set-to finished, Hanger weighed in with complaints about proposed designs for maternity combat uniforms for women. As soon as a female member of the military becomes pregnant, she should be removed from duty, Hanger said. ``They should be moved off into the office into clerical positions, so there's no threat to their health, absolutely,'' he said. When a reporter asked about female soldiers who might want duty such as ``mucking around in airport hangars,'' Hanger seemed taken aback. ``Why would they be mucking around in an airport hangar when they're four months pregnant?'' Hanger asked. ``If it's a situation where there's excessive labour involved, it would be detrimental to their health. If they're not excluded from that, then there's something wrong with the policy.'' A defence department spokesperson said pregnant women are already banned from combat duty. They are also prohibited from duty at sea, participating in contact sports, violent exercises, or obstacle course exercises and cannot be on duty in aircraft ejector seats. But they are given work commensurate with their expertise and skills after consultations between the soldier, her doctor and her commanding officer, said Lt. Yves Vanier. |
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