Government seeks to make divorce act fair.

Proposed act would make financial obliga- tions equal for all

parents by Chris Bodnar

OTTAWA (CUP) -A proposed amendment to the Divorce Act may affect students whose parents have divorced.

cally different than they do those whose marriages are intact.”

Although he doesn’t know how many students could be affected by the proposed changes, Gallaway says the bill only serves to point out one of the prob- lems with the current law governing divorce procedure.

Last year, Gallaway co-chaired a joint House and

Fathers’ Resources Interna- tional, is one of those sup- porters.

Guspie says any attempt to make the Divorce Act easier to understand and to use is welcomed by his group.

In addition, he says all parents, married or divorced, should have equal and fair financial obligations towards their children.

“This can be

In the next few weeks, Liberal MP Roger Gallaway plans to table a private mem- bers bill in the House of Commons that will stop the power of courts to increase support payments when a child begins their post- secondary education.

Currently, married parents have no obligation to pay for their children’s univer-

“To me this is nota difficult issue. It's just an issue where

some fairness

enters into the —

equation.”

Roger Gallawa y Liberal MP

a huge issue,” said Guspie. “Picture that you're a father and you get this order and you even agree with it initially but then all of a sudden you find yourself in a position where- you re unem- ployed.” Although there are opportu- nities for parents

sity or college educa- tion, although student loan eligibility is based on parents’ incomes.

Parents who are divorced, however, can have their child support payments increased by a court order when their child turns 18, in order to cover the costs of post-secondary education.

“To me this is not a difficult issue. It’s just an issue where some fairness enters into the equation,” said Gallaway. “The courts treat divorced people radi-

Senate committee that recommended numerous changes to the Divorce Act that would ensure divorced parents weren’t burdened with obligations from which married couples are exempt.

While Gallaway says he believes the Liberal caucus will support his bill, he says there are many other groups across Canada who support this change.

Danny Guspie, executive director of the

paying child support to have legal adjustments to their obligations when they can no longer afford it, or if their children are not using the finances properly at school, parents often cannot afford legal representation to have the changes made.

“The bureaucracy is set up for the convenience of everyone except the jurisdic- tion of the parent,” said Guspie. “The only winners are those in the legal profes- sion.”

by Ainslie Schroeder

WINNIPEG (CUP) -

This month, the world’s population reached, and then ex- ceeded, six billion people.

Zero Population Growth, a United States- based population issues group, dubbed October 12 “Y6B” (Year six Billion) to commemorate the estimated birth of the world’s six billionth citizen.

This is a reason for both celebration and

| alarm.

It’s a victory of growing life expectancy, along with the natural momentum of population growth, which has culmi- nated in this milestone of human existence.

But with patterns of ever-growing human consumption and

Six billion: a wake up call for the world

technology will create an answer to the plague of resource depletion, the rate of innovation is losing the race to destruc- tion.

The marking of each additional billionth member of the human race will increasingly become a more common event.

It took from the beginning of our species — until 1804 to reach one billion, but it only took 12 years for the world’s population to rise from five to six billion.

The global death rate has been cut in half since 1950, while life expect- ancy has risen from 46 to 66 years.

The United Nations, non-governmental organi- zations (NGOs) and indiviual countries have

continuous environmental degradation, our ability to ensure quality of life for all six billion people on earth can only be met if substantial changes are made in the way we live. Although

some continue to believe

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