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Page 6 SePTeMBeR 14, 2015 • LaW TIMeS www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT Reform the rules for child support Is it fair for the government to claw back child support from social assistance payments to parents? Anupam Kakkar doesn't think so. According to the Toronto Star, he's taking the provincial government to court over its practice of deducting child support from social assistance payments. While he pays $645 a month to the mother of his two children, none of it goes to them, the Star reported. It's a difficult issue, of course. On the one hand, deducting extra money received by social assistance recipients is an accepted practice that limits taxpayers' financial obligations and maintains the pro- gram's essential purpose of providing basic support. On the other hand, it seems reasonable that the children should benefit from some of the money paid on their behalf. And while the government can make a reasonable argument that the money it provides accounts for the needs of the children, it's also very true that social assistance rates are so low that they don't actually do that. The lawsuit comes as the B.C. government has taken action on the issue by ending the clawback of child support from income or disability assistance. As a result, recipients can now keep every dollar they get in child support. It's obvious why that's an attractive solution. But what about fairness to social assistance recipients who don't get child support? They obvi- ously have to make do with the standard social assistance rates while others get the benefit of the additional child support. Fortunately, a 2012 report by former cabinet minister Francis Harper misses the political mark with stingy refugee policy anada's refugee policy hasn't al- ways been so stingy. Amid controversy last week over Canada's response to the Syrian refugee crisis, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper could have come out a winner and saved the lives of thou- sands of innocent people in the process by appointing former prime minister Joe Clark as the empathetic godfather to lead the rescue effort. Back in 1979, Clark helped save the lives of tens of thousands of Vietnamese refu- gees who had f led communism in open boats on the high seas. Clark sent over Canadian aircraft to rescue them out of the waters and special teams of Canadian immigration workers to United Nations refugee camps to bring people to Canada. The world cheered and stood in awe of Canada's empathy toward the Vietnamese refugees. Clark became an international hero, something Harper has yet to achieve. Especially in the middle of a national election campaign, Harper can use a little more international respect while stif ling the growing criticism of how he has been dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis. Harper missed a golden opportunity to score valuable political points had he taken better care of what he was saying publicly and pos- sibly changed his approach to dealing with the crisis. Harper said he would continue to send Canadian aircraft to Syria. But it would still be to bomb that country rather than rescuing refugees from the Syrian civil war. His rejection of a rescue air- lift came at a time when much of the civilized world, including the Unit- ed Nations High Commissioner for Refu- gees, 28 countries of the European Union, and most of the provincial premiers were asking Harper to do more for the refugees. Harper was firm: "We cannot open the f loodgates and airlift tens of thousands of refugees out of a terrorist war zone without proper process. That is too great a risk for Canada," said Harper, evoking a fear that some terrorist jihadist might be able to sneak in among those Syrian women and children aboard a Canadian aircraft. Would Clark have decided in 1979 not to send planes to pick up refugees because there might be a communist terrorist among them? Instead, Harper said: "We must ensure we screen every potential refu- gee carefully. We have been clear that we are willing to take more people but we must be sure we are helping the most vulnerable." He could have said Canada must make every effort to help as many people as possible. And he could have left out his comments about ethnicity and religion. Asked to define what he meant when he talked about the "most vulnerable" refugees in Syria, Harper referred to those from ethnic and religious minorities. Does that exclude Muslims since they're not a minority in Syria? At a campaign stop later in Missis- sauga, Ont., Harper said: "We are go- ing to make sure that we are selecting the most vulnerable bona fide refugees, obviously with a focus on the religious and ethnic minorities that are the most vulnerable." It would have been so much better for Harper's re-election bid if he had an- nounced he had appointed Clark to lead the efforts without focusing on the religion or ethnicity of the people who need help. There's a rule in politics that when you have a strength , play to it, especially at election time. Clark had already announced last week his interest in helping out and had even given Harper free advice had he been smart enough to take it. Clark said Canada could take in more refugees if it sent Cana- dian immigration officials to the United Nations refugee camps where many Syr- ians have ended up. Last week, both of Harper's ma- jor political opponents, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, called on the prime minister to meet them to discuss the crisis. Harper said no and suggested the pair had been playing "partisan games." It would have been much more useful to Harper's election campaign if he had instead announced that Clark would be in charge of a refugee mission. That's the way you play politics when you're concentrating on winning the election rather than finishing third. LT Richard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His e-mail address is richardcleroux@rogers. com. ©2015 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. 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Such a change would allow recipients to keep some of the child support they receive with benefits reduced by 50 cents on the dollar rather than dollar for dollar un- der the current system. There may be other concerns about treating child support as earned income, but it's certainly worth considering. It essentially maintains the logic of the current system of ensuring that parents provide the support they owe while allowing children to actu- ally benefit in part from those payments. If social assistance payments ref lected reality, that might not be necessary. But given that that's not the case, it's time to look at alternatives. LT The Hill Richard Cleroux C I

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