Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 31, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada Winnipeg free press monday july 31, 2006 a7 by Jim Brown o Ottawa the country is top court in a decision that could affect thousands of divorced and separated couples is preparing to Iron out the wrinkles in the Federal Law governing child support payments. At Issue is whether the sex spouses who foot the Bill the fathers in most cases have an obligation to report increases in income that could boost their court ordered payments. Closely related is a second question whether they can be hit with hefty retroactive Bills if they dont keep their former partners up to Date on their financial capabilities. The Legal principles Laid Down by the supreme court of Canada in the judgment set for today could Range far beyond the immediate cases at hand. Theress no easy Way of calculating the total dollars at stake across the country but it could run into the hundreds of millions if not billions. We think that something in the Range of 700,000 families could be affected by this decision says Deidre Smith the lawyer for four Alberta fathers challenging support awards imposed on them. It has the potential to have an enormous financial Impact on an enormous number of canadians. Carole Curtis the lawyer for two of the four women receiving support payments is More guarded. Its True there Are hundreds of thousands of support recipients in Canada she says. But not All of them will be itching for a fight with their sex partners even if the supreme court opens the door for them. It Isnit possible to know How May people will actually go Back to court or end up in litigation says Curtis. There could however be policy repercussions for the Federal government which last revamped the Federal divorce act in 1997 to establish guidelines for child support. The aim was to bring some order to a notoriously uneven system in which support orders had varied wildly from Case to Case. The new regime established a Grid system that tied the amount of support to the ability to pay and the number of children. But enforcement turned out to be a problem partly because of income fluctuations As people lost old jobs and took new ones in the years following the break up of their marriages or common Law relationships. Changing custody arrangements also complicated things As children moved Back and Forth Between Mother and father. In fact says Smith its typically an argument Over custody or some other falling out Between parents or children that triggers a Battle Over support Money. Were talking about separated families not people who Are great at problem solving she says. Its usually when something else is happening that the support Issue gets intertwined. In the four Alberta cases Smiths Points out the fathers dutifully paid everything they owed under the initial support orders made by the courts when they divorced or separated. None of them Are Deadbeat dads not a single one. Curtis retorts that they May have stuck to the original deals but they never told their sex partners their incomes had gone up and they could now afford to pay More under the Federal guidelines. They were paying the wrong amount and they knew they were paying the wrong amount. When parliament adopted the Grid system nine years ago there was talk of setting up a Federal provincial enforcement mechanism that would Combine income tax data with custody information and automatically update support payments every year. The system never came into Force in part because Ottawa and the provinces agree on How to finance it. Instead the Federal government set up four Pilot projects across the country that have yet to Lead to a National enforcement scheme. That has effectively left the onus on women who think they re being shortchanged to go to court and demand an increase in support payments. Canadian press by Michael Hammond Ottawa the Federal government has quietly handed senior government officials and the Heads of Crown corporations pay raises and increased bonuses sounding alarm Bells from a tax watchdog and the biggest Public service Union. Government executives and Deputy ministers the highest ranking Public servants Are in line to get a 2.5 per cent pay raise. The chief executives of Crown corporations such As the Csc and Canada Post Are slated to get three per cent raises. Retroactive the salary increases will be applied retroactively dating Back to april. Executives and Deputy ministers will also receive a 1.1 per cent increase to a scale of end of year bonuses which Are tied to performance and objectives. Besides this payment executives and Deputy ministers Are also eligible for another Bonus on top of that of Between three and five per cent if they earn All their Basic Bonus. The raises Are part of a strategy aimed at preventing High level Public servants from jumping to More lucrative positions in private enterprises. There was no formal Public announcement of the increases from prime minister Stephen harpers conservative government. What troubles me is this is a government that was elected to ensure greater transparency and they ave decided to Shelve a Public announcement said John Williamson Federal director of the Canadian taxpayers federation. Its not so much the pay raise that bothers me As the Way it was quietly stated. John Gordon president of the Public service Alliance of Canada said the salaries of senior government executives should face the same scrutiny As those of any other Public servant. This is really a slap in the face to our members he said. Regardless of the amount of Money in the raises they should be made Public. Gordon also called the quiet pay raise a turnabout for a government that campaigned on a platform of More transparency. Mike Van Soulen spokesman for Treasury Board president John Baird said there was nothing underhanded about the raise. The information he said was made Public on the Treasury boards website. Its transparent he said. We Felt it was an appropriate Way to release this news. Williamson said he wonders Why the government decided to raise the amount of Bonus pay senior executives receive Given the tories vociferous opposition to such moves when they were in opposition. He estimates that As Many As 90 per cent of executives receive their end of year Bonus pay which defeats the purpose of rewarding exceptional performance. Government executives earn $ 94,000-$ 178,700 in salary while Deputy ministers earn Between $ 170,000 and $ 288,400 depending on their seniority. That does not count the bonuses for which they Are eligible. The Heads of Crown corporations Start at $ 109,000 in annual salary and can work their Way up to $ 445,600. Canadian press by Norma Greenaway Ottawa support for Stephen harpers conservative government has dipped especially in the critical battlegrounds of Quebec b. And Atlantic Canada Likely pushed by discomfort with the prime ministers policies in Afghanistan and the Middle East a new poll suggests. The Itsos Reid Survey conducted for can West newspapers and global National says National support for the conservatives has dropped to 39 per cent a decline of four Points since May. Pollster John Wright says the new data including an approval rating of 60 per cent for Harper suggests the party is still in Good shape. The conservatives which won 36 per cent of the vote in the Federal election in january would however Likely still be stuck in minority government territory if an election were held now he said. The National tally puts the conservatives Well ahead of the liberals at 27 per cent and the nip at 17 per cent. Both opposition parties got a bump of two Points nationally since May. In Quebec the conservatives lost ground to both the liberals and the bloc quebecois although they remained the blocks main Competition. The split was 41 per cent for the bloc compared with 27 per cent for the tories and 21 per cent for the liberals. The Telephone poll of 1,000 canadians was conducted tuesday through thursday As the battling Between israeli and Hezbollah forces in Southern Lebanon continued to dominate the news. The Harper government undertook a major program to evacuate canadians from Lebanon while defending what the prime minister termed israelis right to defend itself. Wright vice president of Itsos Reid says the numbers suggest foreign policy has put a Dent in harpers popularity. His governments support dipped most in the three areas of the country Quebec Atlantic Canada and b. Which recent polls have shown Are most uncomfortable with his Mideast and Afghanistan policies Wright said. The drop was 12 Points each in b. And Atlantic Canada and six Points in Quebec. The latest Itsos Reid poll on Afghanistan released saturday says support for the Canadian deployment there has plummeted 10 Points since March and that a slim majority want the troops brought Home. Foreign policy is now defining this government Wright said adding it has taken the focus away from the governments search for its next five priorities now that it has enjoyed some Success on its first five. Now they know what the next five priorities Are Wright said. They Are called the Middle East and Afghanistan. Nothing in the poll results should encourage Harper to want an Early election Wright said. I dont think there is anything in Here that bodes for him going sooner unless he wants to make the foreign policy Issue the priority Wright said. If thatus the ballot question his numbers in Quebec Are not in great shape. Harpers Hopes of a majority rest largely with gaining significantly on the 10 seats his party surprisingly won in Quebec in the january election. Can West news service by Kent Spencer Vancouver military families with children born abroad during the cold War Are finding their offspring were not recognized As Canadian citizens. A Surrey b. C., family says it has been caught up in a decades Long tangle Over the status of their son who was born in France during the 1960s. Jack Fortin who served with the Craf at Marville France said yesterday Sloppy government paperwork led to his son Mark not being Given citizenship. Its a silly stupid situation said Fortin 74. Canadian authorities in France dropped the Ball. Thousands of children Are affected. I was just following orders and it turns out our son is in this mess. He was issued a French birth certificate. That Little piece of paper is All hers Ever had. Hers never had a Canadian birth certificate. His Canadian wife May remembers being told her four year old was French upon their return to Canada in 1968. He was born on a Canadian base thatus Canadian land. Hers supposed to be Canadian said a sobbing May yesterday. While her son now in his 40s was Able to get a health card social insurance number and passport help was often needed from sympathetic officials. I dont know How he got his passport Fortin said. Registration for commonplace things such As school and sports programs has also been problematic and there Are questions about old age pensions. Its like bashing your head against a Brick Wall but Over the years weave just sort of accepted it he said. The politicians Are insensitive. We never got a reply from anyone who knows whats going on. Fortin said citizenship is vital now that passports might be needed for u. S. Travel. In these Days of Post 9/ 11, identity Means everything he said. Vancouver immigration lawyer Sam Hyman said citizenship Laws contained automatic loss provisions prior to 1977. You could lose your citizenship if there was a failure to Register your birth abroad said Hyman of the firm Burns Fitzpatrick Rogers and Schwartz. A Grace period to retroactively declare citizenship expired aug. 14, 2004. Christine Eden also of Surrey and a former forces brat in Europe is in charge of a National committee to address the problem. Eden said she has heard from dozens of people following a reunion at a French air base where numerous Canadian warplanes were once stationed. She said some cases could result in deportation from Canada. Melanie Carkner spokeswoman for immigration Canada in Ottawa said citizenship was not automatic prior to 1977 for those born on foreign soil. After 1977, it became automatic she said. The department is doing everything it can to assist people. They apply for permanent resident status and then become Canadian citizens. Can West news service Vancouver ramp Media relations officers in b. Should consider being less helpful to reporters in an Effort to reduce the number of crime stories in the Media an internal ramp report obtained by the Vancouver Sun recommends. The report prepared last year by the mounties b. Communications Section argues the Public has an irrational fear of crime mainly due to the Large number of crime stories in newspapers and newscasts. Those stories the report found Are often sparked by ramp news releases or comments from officers. Can West news service child support ruling due today must sex spouses report increases in income which would boost their required payments born abroad during cold War military kids not recognized As canadians can West news service file photo Stephen Harper a four Point drop support for conservatives takes dip says new poll Jim Farrell / can West news service sunday Driver a police officer looks Over the devastation yesterday after the Driver of a Bow lost control hitting a pole and Landing on a new car at Northstar Hyundai on Edmonton is 97th Street. The Accident took out the dealerships plate Glass window. Do ramp contribute to fear of crime senior bureaucrats quietly Given pay raises no Public announcement made by prime minister ;