Canadian Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott has announced that the Green Party of Canada has officially endorsed making the presumption of equally shared parenting following separation or divorce the law of Canada. Here’s his press release which includes this:
Over the weekend, the Green Party passed a policy motion declaring that “the Green Party of Canada will make the necessary changes to the Canada Divorce Act so that in the event of a marital breakdown, the Divorce Act will mandate a default of equal parenting – defined as equal time and responsibility unless there is consent from both parents, or there are specific criminal convictions related to the children that preclude equal parenting.
The Green Party of Canada is a small party. It has so far failed to elect a single person to parliament. But recently, popular discontent with the major parties has redounded to the Greens’ benefit. The party has steadily increased its share of the popular vote in both national and local elections. In 2004 it garnered over 4.3% of the vote which is important because it qualified the party for federal funding of its electoral efforts. With that funding, its vote tallies have steadily risen. The politics of the Green Party are of course well left of center. That makes their endorsement of equally shared parenting that’s also contained in Vellacott’s bill C-422 significant because it shows that left and right can come together over the issues of stable families and parent-child relationships. Indeed, I and others have long argued that equally-shared parenting should appeal to both left and right. Family stability should appeal to the right while gender equality between parents should appeal to the left, and both are advanced by equally-shared parenting. It’s always been hypocritical for those on the left to oppose fathers’ rights. For decades, many leftists have paid lip service to gender equality, but when they’re given the opportunity to put their money where their mouth is, they always seem to hide behind bad logic and bad data. For example, show me a feminist organization in the U.S. that supports equally shared parenting. I’ve never seen one and that’s in spite of the fact that equally shared parenting would promote greater involvement of women in the workplace which in turn would result in more promotions for women, increased earnings and greater savings. Feminists say they support all those things, but when it comes to promoting one of the surest ways to achieve all of them – equally shared parenting – they refuse. Well, now the Green Party of Canada has shown NOW how to live their principles. We’ll see if they learn.