Law Times

Law TiMes • May 16, 2011 Abortion groups savouring majority to reopen the abortion issue now that he has a majority government. Several major anti-abortion and A so-called family groups recently held a major conference at a hotel in Ot- tawa where they discussed how they plan to move forward politically. Just last week, they held a big march on Parliament Hill that at- tracted thousands of people. Harper knew about the event but fl ed to Manitoba to visit the fl ooding there. He thereby wisely avoided the crowd in front of the Parliament buildings who have it in their minds that Harper owes it to them to introduce legislation banning abortion. It was former prime minister Pierre Trudeau who in May 1969 passed an omnibus bill that struck down abortion laws and eff ective- ly gave women a limited right to choose. Pro-life groups never for- gave him. Th en two decades later in 1989, the Supreme Court struck abortion from the Criminal Code to make Canada the only major western country with no abortion law. Th e move essentially gave women a full right to choose. Pro-life groups got it into their heads during the recent election campaign that all Harper needed was a solid majority for him to agree to passing an omnibus bill criminalizing abortion. Th ey feel Harper's omnibus crime bill expected after Parliament resumes should include the biggest off ence of all that goes unpunished in Canada: the killing of unborn children. Th ey promise to not let up on the pressure until Harper in- cludes it in his crime legislation. Th e turning point on the abor- tion issue came during the election campaign. Saskatchewan Conservative MP Brad Trost, addressing a pro-life group, said political pres- sure and petitions had convinced Harper's minority government to cut funding to Planned Parent- hood because the organization had helped women in the Th ird World obtain medical abortions. He received loud applause and raised hopes that Harper would go one step further against abortion. Rather than allow the issue to escalate unimpeded, Harper chose to speak out. But he limited his remarks to how he intends to deal with the abortion issue. Th e video clip of that speech, which appears on YouTube, shows Harper standing in front of a big black and white sign that reads "Conception." (But hold on, it's only because he was visiting the hockey arena in Conception Bay, N.L., at the time.) Harper explained where he stood: "I've been clear as prime minister, notwithstanding those who may hold a diff erent opinion, that as long as I am prime minister, we are not reopening the abortion debate. "Th ere was a private member's bill on that matter in the last session and I voted against it, and it was defeated. Th e government is not going to bring forward any such nti-abortion groups have be- gun a big push to force Prime Minister Stephen Harper The Hill By Richard Cleroux bill, and if such a bill is brought forward, the government is going to vote against it. Th is is not the priority of this government." Harper has always been careful to limit his remarks on abortion to bills and votes in Parliament and whether the subject can be opened or not. You'll never hear him declare outright whether he's opposed to a woman's right to choose. Harper has never uttered those words. Harper and his family have be- longed to an evangelical church for many years. Th ey attend the East Gate Alliance Church in Ot- tawa. Harper even has his own spe- cial door on the right of the church where he enters so his limousine can drive unimpeded up to it. Th e church considers abortion morally wrong and a terrible sin. Its preachers refer to it as "the kill- ing of unborn children." Th e Christian right in Canada is well aware of Harper's religion. Th at's why it keeps hoping that someday he'll live up to the teach- ings of his church and actually re- open the abortion issue. Adherents believe that now that Harper has his majority in the House of Commons, they could win the vote. If they don't prevail, at least they tried and God will be pleased. Whether reopening the abor- tion issue hurts Harper politically isn't a concern of theirs. Th ey feel they've waited long enough for Harper to deliver. It's not as if the leaders of the Christian right hesitate in the least to embarrass Harper on all sorts of is- sues. One of the most powerful lead- ers of the anti-abortion movement in Canada, Canada Christian College president Charles McVety, shows up periodically on Parliament Hill and gets privileged access to Harper and some cabinet ministers. Sometimes, McVety's visits to Harper deal with the need to in- crease criminal sentences for pedo- philia or the importance of raising the age of consent for juvenile sex. Th is week, McVety was part of a group that hosted controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who spoke in Toronto, Ottawa, and London, Ont. McVety was quoted in Th e National Post referring to Wilders' remarks about the danger of a "demographic jihad" from the Muslim population. Although Wilders is head of a prominent political party in the Netherlands and eff ectively props up the minority government in that country, neither Harper nor any of his ministers made any attempt to attend his talks or meet with him. For Harper, it was a wise time to leave Ottawa for the fl ood-ravaged plains of Manitoba. Richard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His e-mail address is richardcleroux@ rogers.com. ents on issues like corporate structure and reorganizations, it's important to under- stand upcoming changes to fi nancial state- ment disclosures as they aff ect the balance sheet, income statements, and notes. Financial statement T users and stakehold- ers are probably aware that the Canadian ac- counting profession has adopted new inter- national fi nancial re- porting standards known as IFRS for pub- licly accountable enterprises. What many people may not be aware of, however, is the release of new accounting standards for pri- vate enterprises (ASPE). Th ose companies now have the choice of whether to adopt IFRS or ASPE for fi scal year-ends begin- ning after Jan. 1, 2011. Why was there a switch to ASPE? In Canada, there was always a need for report- ing standards to meet the requirements of private enterprises. Over the years, various changes were put into place to meet these needs. As far back as 1999, the Accounting Standards Board concluded that account- ing standards were becoming too complex for smaller privately held enterprises. Th is led to the fi rst major change in 2002 with the implementation of diff erential report- ing for private entities. When Canada decided to adopt IFRS, consideration of a revamp of accounting standards for private enterprises became more pronounced. Many of the existing accounting standards remained unneces- sarily complex, and fi nancial statement dis- closures were overwhelming and becoming increasingly expensive to prepare. In 2008, the board established an advisory commit- tee of fi nancial statement preparers and us- ers of those statements to address issues re- lated to the complexity of fi nancial report- ing for private enterprises. Following a few years of research, dialogue, and debate, a new made-in-Canada accounting standard resulted. Letter to the Editor IN PRAISE OF NATURAL GAS Ian Harvey's Feb. 28 article, "McGuinty's energy fl ip-fl op," contained an outdated as- sumption regarding the link between oil and natural gas prices that I would like to ad- dress. Natural gas has never been more aff ord- able, abundant, and accessible for Ontario due in large part to the emergence of shale gas. We're seeing huge technological advanc- es in the industry that have allowed produc- ers to harness shale gas plays that were previ- ously considered inaccessible. Th is has result- ed in a North American natural gas supply resurgence, something experts deem a game changer and the most signifi cant energy in- novation so far this century. With the emergence of continental shale gas supplies, natural gas and crude oil prices are no longer linked. In fact, from early 2009 onwards, the ratio of crude oil to gas prices www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT PAGE 7 Recent accounting changes: first IFRS, now ASPE kicks in BY HARTLEY COHEN For Law Times he Canadian accounting landscape changed dramatically on Jan. 1. As lawyers advising your business cli- Th e new standards introduce several sig- nifi cant changes. Of particular importance is the reduction in fi nancial statement dis- closure requirements. Also noteworthy is the fact that equities quoted in an active market must be measured at fair value under ASPE. Th ere is now an option to measure other fi - nancial instruments at fair value as well. Another major change with ASPE is Speaker's Corner the optional bump to fair value for fi xed assets. Th is one-time revaluation may be very desirable for busi- nesses that have been carrying land and buildings on their fi - nancial statements for many years at a low book value. Th e bump to fair value of fi xed assets and the corre- sponding increase to shareholders' equity can have a very positive eff ect in enhancing certain bank covenant ratios such as debt to equity. Other changes involve accounting for an investment in subsidiaries at fair value where there is a quoted active market, a simplifi ed defi ned-benefi t plan measure- ment, and simpler rules in accounting for goodwill impairment. Lawyers' business clients may want to adopt ASPE early. One signifi cant reason for doing so would be to take advantage of the one-time bump to fair value of certain property, plant, and equipment. But in do- ing so, there would be a need to determine the fair value of those assets as of Jan. 1, 2008. Th is may be advantageous if some of those assets became impaired during the 2008 economic downturn. Overall, the decision of which account- ing standards to adopt should consider us- ers of fi nancial statements, future plans, fi nancial resources, and personnel available to implement the changes. Th ese decisions should not be made without consulting various stakeholders, including lenders and shareholders. Above all, clients should be consulting with their lawyers as well as so- liciting the resources and expertise of other fi nancial advisers to make the transition to ASPE or IFRS as seamless as possible. Hartley Cohen is a partner at Kestenberg Rab- inowicz Partners LLP in Markham, Ont. has increased sharply to 25:1 from 11:1, and industry experts agree that wide diff erentials will continue. Har- vey's assumption that rising oil prices will lead to higher natural gas costs no longer holds true. Today, natural gas prices are at their lowest level in almost 10 years and are forecasted to remain so into the next decade. In fact, a recent review of the market predicts that natural gas prices will remain relatively fl at until 2020. We believe Ontario's long-term energy plan simply cannot be achieved without the integral role of reliable, aff ordable, and clean natural gas. Natural gas is an environ- mentally preferred fuel that produces signifi - cantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions than coal-fi red generation plants. It's also a reliable natural partner for wind and solar facilities given their intermittent nature. Using natural gas to generate electricity represents the greatest opportunity for reduc- ing the carbon intensity of our economy in a reliable and cost-eff ective way. Joseph Marra, assistant general counsel, Union Gas Ltd., Chatham, Ont.

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