Mr. Speaker, in two cases in Nova Scotia the Minister of Human Resources Development is violating the Canada Pension Plan Act by unilaterally defining spouse for purposes of the act. The minister cites the M. v H. decision as if it has given him the power to unilaterally override every act that contains the word spouse.
The M. v H. decision is about private support payments upon the breakdown of a relationship. The Canada Pension Plan Act relates to spousal benefits which are linked to the public purse, an entirely different situation.
The Canada Pension Plan Act says spousal benefits are limited to opposite sex couples and the legal rulings at the supreme court level in the Egan decision support the constitutional validity of the act.
The minister is ignoring the law of Canada and the courts to push public benefits to relationships outside marriage, all at taxpayers expense. This is clearly wrong.