June 17, 1994
REFORM PARTY LEADS FIGHT FOR "TRADITIONAL FAMILY"
Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, described this week as his proudest moment as an Member of Parliament as he participated in asking the Liberal Government question after question regarding the state of the "traditional family" in Canada. A CTV/Maclean's/Angus Reid poll released this week reported that 68% of Canadians believe that the traditional two-parent family with one parent at home is the best kind of family to raise children. Breitkreuz sits as an executive member of the Reform's fifteen member Task Force on the Family and has helped make family issues a top priority for the party. "This is the first time that real family issues have been raised in the House of Commons in at least the last twenty-five years," said Breitkreuz.
Here are some of the key issues Reform MPs raised this week:
(1)Family concerns about the possible repeal of Section 43 of the Criminal Code which permits parents to spank their kids to correct their behavior.
(2)Family concerns about the government's plans to redefine "the family" to include two people of the same sex.
(3)Family concerns about the government's plans to introduce "sexual orientation" as a ground for discrimination in the Human Rights Act which would allow child sex abusers specific "rights".
(4)Family concerns about the government distribution of explicit, how-to, manuals about anal-sex and oral-sex, particularly, how these disgusting brochures got in the hands of ten and twelve year olds.
(5)Family concerns about the discriminatory tax laws which penalize parents who care for their children at home by up to $6,000 per year.
(6)Family concerns about Liberal plans to change the definition of the family and its impact on dozens of government programs including the immigration program, particularly as it relates to higher immigration based on "family reunification" criteria.
(7)Family concerns about the real cost of raising kids and day care for parents who have to work including Reform options which would give parents more freedom and finances to care for their kids at home.
(8)Family concerns about 70% of fathers who are delinquent in the child support payments and more effective legal tools for single parents to collect from "dead-beat dads".
(9)Family concerns about the apathy demonstrated by the Liberal Party which sent only one MP to attend a very important briefing on family issues. (The meeting was attended by ten Reform MPs and no one from the Bloc.)
(10)Family concerns about child care were addressed by a private member's bill introduced by Reform MP, Jim Silye, which would increase child care deductions of up to $5,000 per child.
(11)Family concerns about the threat posed on the "traditional family" by elitist policy making in Ottawa over the years and how the principles of the Reform Party are the key to the preservation and health of the fundamental social and economic building block in our society - THE FAMILY.
"The Liberals reacted with indifference to the concerns we raised about the "traditional family", reported Breitkreuz. "The Liberal government will likely perpetuate policies which threaten our families but this is the first time that an opposition party has been fighting back. Its time that governments started doing what the majority of Canadians want and protecting the family is a good place to start," he concluded.
For more information please call:
Yorkton: (306) 782-3309 (800) 667-6606
Ottawa: (613) 992-4394