Issues-2015

What’s the Issue? Current Bad Policy Best Practice (reforms)
Parents losing custody in family courts Court costs are higher than even upper middle class parents can afford. Both parents keep responsibility for parenting children unless proven unfit. Parents stay out of courts whenever possible)
No action on overdue reforms, which are supported by the public Conservative Party has a policy on shared parenting but PM Harper forced cabinet to vote against this policy as implemented in bill C560 Insist that your Conservative candidate support Conservative policy rather than
interests of lawyer donors
Liberal Party opposes interests of middle class parents and children Liberal MPs forced to vote against equal parenting by leader Trudeau Ask your Liberal candidate to support equal parenting and to ask party for a free vote.
NDP MPs forced to vote against equal parenting by leader Mulcair NDP MPs met only with legal profession lobbyists and refuse to hear from middle class parents Ask your NDP candidate to support equal parenting and ask party to hear both sides on issues
Green Party on equal parenting Green Party has a good policy on equal parenting but half their MPs voted against it in Parliament. Ask your Green candidate to support equal parenting and the Green Party policy
Legal monopoly interests blocking fair treatment of parents Legal industry has preferential access to government and ministers while parent advocates are blocked by special interests Legal profession should be subject to the same lobbying rules and access as ordinary citizens. Ban lawyer donations from business (trust) accounts
Government funding and services strongly biased against both parents Federal funding for legal education/ court support only for women, only for sole custody Either fund both sides equally or neither side. End gender apartheid in funding
Child support guidelines consider income of only one parent Child support formula presumes only one parent cares for child Child support based on both incomes and on shared parenting
Federal Minister of Justice announces “parents have no rights” and changes federal laws to remove existing rights Non-custodial parents relegated to “bystanders”,(no status) Non-custodial (NCP) parents (mostly dads) not recognized as “family” Parents should have a balance of rights and responsibilities. Every parent of a child should be recognized as a “family”
Undefined “best interests of child” No due process, decisions by biased courts and judicial discretion with no responsibility “best interests of child” defined from the view of the child and settled social science
Government promises all families benefit from family tax cuts and child care benefit, but no benefits for divorced dads All cuts and benefits are reserved for the custodial parent, while NCP (dads) are not recognized as family Both parents should be eligible for tax benefits for child rearing, income splitting, parental status
Tax system and other incentives punish marriage and incentivize conflict. Marriage breakup incentivized, lawyers profit from conflict, federal government makes money from GST on legal fees Reform tax system so deductions and benefits are available to both parents; reform courts to encourage consensual decisions
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