OTTAWA, January 20, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Justice department, under Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin announced Monday a decision to appeal an Ontario Court of Appeals decision in December which approved pension benefits for surviving partners of same-sex “couples” retroactively to 1985. The December decision ruled that restricting Canada Pension Plan survivor benefits to same-sex “couples” whose partners have died after 1997 violated the Charter of Rights.
Survivor benefits paid retroactively to surviving partners of same-sex “couples” could potentially run taxpayers into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Ontario court decision was a rejection of the Liberal government’s argument that January 1, 1998 was a reasonable cut-off date for retroactive benefits because that is when the debate over same-sex rights really started.
Homosexualist NDP MP Svend Robinson, a crusader for same-sex marriage, said that “Certainly if they’re not prepared to recognize the basic right to equality of gay and lesbian survivors of long-term relationships, people who paid into Canada Pension Plan, I’m worried about where they’re going to go on same-sex marriage.”
Read the related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
The Activist Judges Behind the Ontario Homosexual ‘Marriage’ Ruling