CANADA TO OFFICIALLY CHANGE DEFINITION OF SPOUSE?

TORONTO, Apr 24 (LSN) – The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled yesterday that sexually-active homosexuals would be entitled to pension benefits thus changing the definition of “spouse” in the Income Tax Act to include same-sex partners. A panel of three judges—Rosalie Abella, Hilda McKinlay and Stephen Goudge—in another example of undemocratic judicial activism, called the restriction of benefits to heterosexual couples unconstitutional. Although the decision is limited to the Income Tax Act it opens the door to the redefinition of “spouse” in all pertinent federal laws.  The case, pitted Nancy Rosenberg and her employer the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)  against the federal government with Real Women of Canada and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada arguing for the protection of the traditional family in court. CUPE attempted to force the government to allow for homosexual benefits in 1992 by amending its spousal benefits to include active homosexuals, submitting the amendment to Revenue Canada for registration. However, citing the definition of spouse as restricted to heterosexuals according to the Income Tax Act, the federal agency refused to register CUPE’s changes. Had CUPE still gone ahead with the changes they would have lost their tax-free status. CUPE challenged Revenue Canada’s decision in court unsuccessfully in 1995. CUPE appealed resulting in yesterday’s successful decision.