THE STATE IS A POOR SUBSTITUTE FOR GOOD PARENTS

Garry Breitkreuz, M.P.
Yorkton-Melville

News Release

For Immediate Delivery

November 20, 1998

THE STATE IS A POOR SUBSTITUTE FOR GOOD PARENTS – SEC. 43 MUST STAY

"Parents should not be persecuted just for correcting their children’s behaviour."

Ottawa – Garry Breitkreuz, M.P. for Yorkton-Melville, chose National Child Day to come to the defence of good parents who are being persecuted by the government. "How can the government say they ‘fully recognize the indispensable role of parents in the upbringing of children’ when the government continues to disrupt families for no good reason?" asked Breitkreuz. In many cases, government intervention causes far more harm than good."

Breitkreuz illustrated his point with the following statement in the House of Commons:

On November 5^th Sun Media published an article titled, "Spank your child, go to jail". Columnist, Michael Coren told the sad story of what happened to Joe Cleary because he spanked his five-year-old son when his son kept kicking the family cat after being told repeatedly not to do it. A month after he used this totally reasonable measure to correct his son’s behaviour, police came to Mr. Cleary’s place of work, arrested him, handcuffed him in front of his co-workers, put him in jail for two days and charged him with assault.

The Clearys had to go to court seven times and incurred legal bills totaling $10,000. The judge quite correctly dismissed the charges under Section 43 of the Criminal Code, which protects the fundamental parental right to use reasonable measures to correct their children’s behaviour. The judge got it right, but how did the police and the Crown prosecutors get it so wrong? On National Child Day can the government please explain how persecution of good parents by the state is in the best interests of the child?

"Every reasonable person knows the difference between a spanking and a beating," said Breitkreuz. On June 9^th the government reassured Canadian families that their "concerns that the [United Nations] Convention on the Rights of the Child undermines the role of parents are unwarranted" and their "concerns that the Government intends to remove section 43 from the Criminal Code are unwarranted." Breitkreuz concluded, "These reassurances ring pretty hollow when we have proof that the government-funded research into the repeal of Section 43 of the Criminal Code. It’s time for the government to make these assurances in the House of Commons. That’s why I introduced Motion M-478."

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For a copy of M-478 or Parental Rights petition, please call:

The Office of Garry Breitkreuz, M.P.
Yorkton: (306) 782-3309
Ottawa: (613) 992-4394