The Canadian Conservative Party, which to date has been supportive of equal parenting, seems to be testing the electoral waters as there is speculation of a fall election in Canada.

Dave Prichard

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/story.html?id=1902980

The interests of children must take priority over a father's right to an equal parenting role after divorce, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said here yesterday.

Mr. Nicholson was responding to an emotional plea from a Canadian lawyer who, with the support of the Canadian Bar Association, urged Mr. Nicholson to reject a Conservative MP's private member's bill introduced in June that called for "equal shared" parenting.

"Will you stand up for children and oppose this private member's bill?" asked Meg Shaw of Kelowna, B. C.

Mr. Nicholson said the government hasn't taken a formal position on the bill introduced in June by Saskatchewan Tory MP Maurice Vellacott, but the Minister made his personal position clear.

"I believe, and I think most people who have been involved in family law or studied this, that the best interests of the child are always paramount ... and should be," he said, triggering applause from several hundred lawyers attending the CBA's annual meeting in Ireland's capital.

Mr. Vellacott's bill, according to a news release issued by the MP, instructs judges "to apply the principle of equal shared parenting unless it is established that the best interests of the child would be substantially enhanced by allocating parental responsibility other than equally."

The news release said research shows, "with limited exceptions," that "children generally demonstrate superior outcomes when both parents -- mom AND dad -- are actively involved in their children's lives, even if the parents divorce or separate."

Liberal MP Brian Murphy, deputy chairman of the House of Commons justice committee, and association president Guy Joubert both praised Mr. Nicholson for making his own views clear.