By Allison Hanes
Ottawa Centre MP Mac Harb wants to go down in Canadian history on two counts: for introducing the most private members’ bills on one subject at one time in the House of Commons and for his attention to children’s issues.
On Feb. 13, backbencher Harb and fellow Liberal Jean Augustine (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) introduced 38 bills to Parliament, 35 of which are aimed at strengthening children’s rights in Canada.
The MP says he is setting a world record for introducing the most bills on a single subject at one time.
“This is the largest ever on one subject in the world ever,” Harb says. “I hope Canada will adopt (the bills) and set an example.”
Harb is trying to change various federal acts, such as the Wages Liability Act, the Canadian Bill of Rights and the Divorce Act.
Harb says some of his proposed changes would eliminate injustices done to children. For example, he wants to remove the term “illegitimate child” from various laws in reference to children in common-law or single-parent families.
“A number of pieces of legislation define children in certain situations as ‘illegitimate.’ This is highly unfair because it is a stigma. It means 1.8 million children, ultimately, are bastards.”
Amendments to the Tax Act would address the issue of employed teenagers who pay income tax but are not eligible for tax credits like the GST refund he says.
“The tax system does not treat (16-year-old workers) like a child,” Harb says, “but it treats them like children when it comes to getting tax credits.”
Harb says his bills are an attempt to fill in the legal gaps left after Canada ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.
According to Roberta Lloyd, regional director for the Ottawa-Carleton branch of Unicef, the UN convention rights cover everything from the protection of children from abuse and neglect to the right to freedom of thought and religion.
Harb says he is optimistic the bills — which just went through the first of three readings on their way to becoming law — will pass because he already has the endorsement of 32 MPs. He needs the backing of at least 155.
“I am very optimistic that at least a few of the bills will become law before the end of the school term.”
Yolande Arsenault, assistant to children’s advocacy specialist Liberal Senator Landon Pearson, says she is familiar with Harb’s effort, but warns private members’ bills only pass “once in a blue moon.”
But, she says, “what (the bills) do do is incite awareness . . . and if the public thinks it is significant, it often does make the government’s agenda.”
If Harb’s proposed bills pass, it’s unknown whether they will have an impact on the day-to-day lives of children.
Lise Parent practices family law for the firm Parent and Carr. She says it seems Harb is tinkering with existing legislation instead of creating new laws, so the bills may only offer symbolic rather than practical protection for children’s rights.
“He may be doing it for symbolic reasons,” Parent says. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
But Parent says Harb’s private member’s bills are timely.
“The Senate has been doing stuff now on the issue of child custody and access, so (Harb’s bills) fit in there.”