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Britain Intelligently Tackles Family Breakdown

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is standing firm in the middle of a decaying society. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) have hit a 10-year high; teen pregnancies and abortions are skyrocketing. In England alone, almost 90,000 teenagers became pregnant in 1997, with nearly 7,700 of these girls being under 16 years of age (half of these teen pregnancies resulted in abortion).

Author and broadcaster, Dr. Trevor Stammers, a professor in general practice, wrote in the December 16, 2000, British Medical Journal that "sexually active teenagers are more likely to be emotionally hurt and have an increased risk of depression and suicide."

The Canadian solution for such devastating problems is to throw more government programs at the problem at great cost, and with little result.

Prime Minister Blair, however, appears to be smarter, and more progressive than that. He has, instead, begun to chisel away at the fundamental cause of the problem - the breakdown of the traditional family.

Several months ago, his government announced that it would be promoting traditional marriage by sponsoring a marriage guide to be provided to every couple in the country planning marriage. (See Reality, November/December, 2000, p. 17, "British Government Promotes Traditional Marriage.")

The British government also has plans to scrap a portion of its no-fault divorce legislation, passed in 1996 (no-fault divorce has been in place in Canada since 1986). The goal is to establish a better balance between the bitterness and animosity that arises from divorce proceedings, while ensuring, at the same time, that spouses who have behaved badly will not be exonerated in the interests of speed, cost savings or an "easy life." This is a tall order, but well worth undertaking.

The British government is also reviewing the Children's Act 1989 with the view of increasing the powers of courts to enable them to refuse divorces where arrangements for children are not in place. It also intends to provide additional funding for marriage counseling and support services and to give couples more time to reflect before they marry.

Perhaps one of the most effective measures the British government is taking to ensure the protection of the family, however, is its decision to abolish its "women's unit" and to establish, instead, a "citizens unit" or equal opportunities unit for men and women. The women's unit had the responsibility for checking each department's policies in case they unwittingly discriminated against women. (Canada has a similar arrangement, thanks to the 1995 UN's Beijing Conference on Women).

In Britain even female Ministers and MPs are supporting the abolition of their feminist agency. They are stating publicly that "the women's unit is past its sell-by date" and "the debate about sexism and feminism has moved on." Only in Britain? Pity.

Why is the Labour government in Britain so progressive and advanced, while the federal government here is still so firmly locked into the past - particularly in 1960s and 1970s? The reason is that the radical feminists still have a stranglehold on our government in Ottawa and consistently fill key positions in the bureaucracy, especially in Justice and Foreign Affairs. The federal Status of Women, with its $18M annual appropriation, is further pushing the widespread feminist agenda.

Such initiatives are preventing Canada from changing with the times and coming to grips with one of our major social problems, which is the lack of protection and support for the fundamental unit of our society - the traditional family.

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