I listened to Scheer's response in the video where he describes the scenario of a woman being deprived of the ability to save for maternity leave within her corporation and I believe that  no one has explained clearly why we have these tax breaks for small corporations.

Are they meant to be tax incentives for taking risk and growing a company, or are they meant to be alternative pension and maternity plans?

If the former, then I agree that the small corps need a tax stimulus. If the latter, then I think that we should  find another way for the self employed to contribute to EI, pension plans, etc.

No one is going to convince me that doctors, for example,  are assuming any risk by setting up a corporation.

However, the absence of a pension plan and EI (through which one obtains federal maternity leave payments) is a real problem and I am surprised that none of the three parties has addressed this specifically.