The debate in second reading for Bill C-560 is on Tuesday, the 27/5/14 and the vote is Wednesday, 28/5/14 (approx 5:45 p.m.).
After
doing a lot of volunteer work in the 2011 election for the CPC I am
disappointed to hear Mr. Harper is not in favour of this bill and through
sources I understand is ordering cabinet to vote just like the NDP and
apparently many Liberals. Imagine that
the CPC Cabinet voting with the socialists in the NDP, and the progressives in
the Liberals who do not think fathers matter after divorce.
Social
Science, however, disagrees with all of you no matter what your political
stripe.
This
will do a great disservice to tens of thousands of children across Canada.
At
one time the CPC touted itself as the party for families both economically and
socially. On the CPC website the party plays up the economic assistance given
but few social outcomes of long lasting
and direct benefit to children (tax credits excluded), that would tremendously
benefit children and, in the long term, reduce many social costs, including
these same families keeping more of their money for children's education,
instead of paying sky high legal fees to Lobbyist lawyers in the CBA. Is the
CBA the only unregistered lobby group in Canada with direct access to federal
Minister's and can influence legislation that hurts their pocket book. In fact, how many MP's are members of this
self same lobby group?
The
family is the foundation of our society but with the sole physical custody model
to mom in 90% of cases, according to Stats Canada, children suffer greater
chances of jail time, drug use, suicide, among many other negative outcomes.
One dramatic finding in the US was “After controlling for single motherhood,
the difference between black and white crime rates disappeared.” Progressive
Policy Institute, 1990, quoted by David Blankenhorn, “Fatherless America:
Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem,” New York, Harper Perennial, 1996,
p.31.
I
suspect the cabinet edict may be related to lobbying by the Canadian Bar
Association (CBA) who tied Mr. Nicholson in knots over C-560’s predecessor
C-422, when he spoke to their meeting in Ireland a couple of years back. They
are against it, due to loss of business, if the current adversarial dysfunction
in Family Law is allowed to stop. How many
lobby groups are in existence where the Minister goes to their meetings and is
also a member?
I
won’t go into great detail on all the social science in existence world wide
that shows why children do far better in a presumption of equal parenting after
divorce but I will provide a link to Gene Colman, LLB, a founding member of
Lawyers For Shared Parenting, who has consolidated it on one page. One document
in particular is titled Myths versus Facts Regarding Bill C-560 – from Lawyers
for Shared Parenting, Leading Women for Shared Parenting and Canadian Equal
Parenting Council. It will provide answers that are raised by those who oppose
C-560, and this includes Feminists and the CBA.
The
link to Mr. Colman’s page. http://www.complexfamilylaw.com/Family-Law-Practice-Areas/Colmans-Bill-C-560.shtml.
A
key point of Bill C560 is to define “best interests of the child” as keeping both
parents unless one is proven unfit. No one will disagree that having both fit
and loving parents in the lives of their children after Divorce is in their
best interests.
If
the CPC does not support the bill, I as a member of your base want you to know,
I will not vote for you, not support any CPC candidate, not renew my party
membership, nor make any donations, and given Mr. Harper appears to not like
the bill I will become a critic of his management of family social issues. Already my earlier blog post of today linking
Harper or MacKay along with C-560 leads to a published article, very much like
this one. My MP in Sault Ste. Marie has
yet to get back to me on whether he supports the Bill despite writing to him
earlier in February and Sunday. His name
too is linked to the same commentary on my blog which is read by thousands of
people over the course of a year. His election in Sault Ste. Marie in 2011, a
left leaning town, was fortuitous and with volunteers like me working on
newspaper comment boards, social media, and word of mouth we put him over the
top.
The
CPC ought not be afraid of this bill as at least 80% of Canadians support it
across all party lines. It would appear many politicians are not in sync with
your constituents.
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