Section 19.1 of the Ontario family law says as follows, and you may be shocked to hear it, because I mention it in my provision....
Pardon me, this is subsections 20(1) and 20(7) of the Children's Law Reform Act of Ontario. It says, “Except as otherwise provided in this Part, a child's parents are equally entitled to custody of the child.”
Right away, we have an Ontario law that speaks to former spouses and to parents that already has this principle in it. Now are we going to have a different principle at the federal level than at the provincial level? It doesn't make sense, because the children of former spouses may be in a different legal context, because there is presumption already in Ontario legislation, than at the federal level. That's one reason.
Another reason is that the presumption really does address the issue of certainty in the law. If you have one principle, some overriding principle that can be rebutted if there's something unconscionable, then that gives more certainty and predictability for people who are approaching this and thinking, perhaps from the wrong point of view, that maybe they'll apply for some frivolous reason such as not having to pay as much child support or some such thing. They'll think twice before they try to rebut the presumption.
You have more certainty in the law with that.