Zurich Citizens News, 1977-12-01, Page 11.4
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.By JACK RIDDELL
MPP Huron -Middlesex
The Family Law Reform
legislation is progressing
through the Legislature, and
Royal Assent has been given to a
number of bills.
Ontario has abolished the con-
cept of the illegitimate child for
all purposes of law, and has set
up a legal framework to help es-
tablish parentage even when the
parents have never been married
to each other. This will go into
effect March 31st, 1978.
Any discrimination on the
basis of illegitimacy becomes il-
legal, and the legislation will
have special significance in
court cases involving inheritance
claims, since illegitimate
children will have the same stan-
ding as all other children when
either a father or mother (or
both) die without leaving a will.
Before the new law, il-
legitimate children had no claim
before the courts. Another Bill
which has received Royal Assent
is that raising the minimum
legal age for marriage -to 16 from
14.
Parental consent will still be
required for 16 year olds to
marry.
Another section of the legisla-
tion legalized last-minute infor-
mal wills. A holograph will of
this kind must be entirely in the
handwriting of the deceased,
followed by his or her signature.
A printed form signed without a
witness does not constitute a
holograph will.
The estates law also increases
the preferential share of a
spouse if either a husband or
wife dies without a will to $75,000
from $50,000 and provides a for-
mula for determining a preferen-
tial share in cases of partial in-
testacy, that is, when the will
does not refer to all property
owned by the deceased.
The Provincial government
will soon announce plans to close
down some of its old county jails
and some newer corrective cen-
tres to save money, according to
the Minister of Correctional Ser-
vices, Mr. Frank Drea..
Factors which will be taken
into consideration are the condi-
tion of the jail, its distance from
the nearest comparable facility,
what kinds of prisoners are being
held. The government operates
33 county jails, seven detention
centres and 15 correctional cen-
tres.
At present about 4,300 people
are employed in Ontario's cor-
rectional. system, and the
Minister has, he says, given a
commitment that no jobs will be
lost as a result of these budget
cuts.
The Government's proposed
five -cent tax on soft-drink cans
has been scrapped, firmly re-
jected by Opposition Parties.
The Minister, Mr. George Kerr,
has stated that he will not try to
introduce a bill to impose it this
session and is considering
whether to try again in the next
session with a measure accep-
table to the Liberals — a deposit
on cans instead of a tax.
Liberal Leader Stuart Smith
has called upon the Government
to spend more money to help
stem the growing incidence of
child abuse. He informed the
Minister of Community and
Social Services, The Honourable
Keith Norton, in the Legislature
that officials expect a 40% in-
crease in child abuse cases this
year, and money allotted to
Children's Aid Societies is
"rather low".
Family law changes
The Minister said the
government's package of about
100 proposed legislative
amendments concerning child
care should be made public quite
soon. Child abuse task forces
have, he said, already been es-
tablished in many communities
and are "already having a
significant impact on the
recognition and detection of
child abuse".
Ontario Municipal Elections
will henceforth be held on the se-
cond Monday in November.
Previously voting day has been
the first Monday in December.
A Select Committee of the
Legislature has been appointed
to examine the entire scope of
Ontario Hydro's current and
future operations.
The Hydro Select Committee
consists of six Conservative
Members, four Liberals and four
NDP Members with Mr. Donald
C. MacDonald, NDP for York
South as Chairman.
The terms of reference for the
committee are broad enough to
allow committee members to
question everything from the
current construction of heavy
water plants in Bruce County to
Ontario's commitment to
nuclear power.
Before the appointment of the
committee, the NDP caucus had
been arguing that only brief
terms of reference were re-
quired but the Liberals kept in-
sisting that the terms of
reference include the cost of con-
struction of two heavy water
plants being built by Hydro at the
Bruce County Nuclear Power
Development, and they were
successful.
Eight clauses of the terms of
reference refer specifically to
the Bruce nuclear project.
The terms of reference allow
the committee to inquire into the
cost of construction of the two
heavy water plants at the Bruce
site, but its major terms allow it
to discuss Hydro power rate in-
creases and to "examine On-
tario's nuclear commitment".
The terms overlap with the
Porter Royal Commission which
is examining Ontario Hydro's
long range planning options, in-
cluding nuclear power. By
January, both Dr. Arthur Porter
and the select committee will be
holding simultaneous hearings,
many of which are bound to raise
the same issues — even though
Hydro's commitment and plans
for further development of
nuclear power in the province
are already well underway.
The select committee's terms,
for example, call for it to ex-
amine Ontario Hydro's planning
strategy for adopting nuclear
power, and in particular largz
versus small generating stations,
remote stations versus sites
close to urban areas, and the
ratio of nuclear fuel generating
stations that should be built in
comparison to fossil fuel
stations.
Also to be considered by the
Select Committee are the
economics of nuclear power ver-
sus generation from other
primary fuels; the performance
and reliability of nuclear power
stations; the nuclear power
stations; the nuclear generating
stations; and environmental im-
pact and health considerations
related to nuclear power.
NORM SALMON
GENERAL
CONSTRUCTION
- Remodelling
- Renovations
- Repairs
- Painting
Additions
GOOD RATES
236-4288
52 Main St. W. ZURICH
The section of the terms of
reference which calls for an ex-
amination of power rates will
allow MPPs to raise the question
of how Canada's participation in
an international uranium cartel
may have affected the cost of
power in Ontario.
Citizens News, December 1, 1977
Page 11
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