CPP for gay couples - Layton to demand Martin act

NDP Leader Jack Layton said the appeal request is "callous" on the part of the Liberals and intends to use today's Question Period to call on Mr. Martin to drop the lengthy court battle against a group of gay men and women over Canada Pension Plan survivor benefits.

With Martin "leading" the charge to pass the Civil Marrriage Act, his government continues to fight gay couples access to CPP benefits. Layton told the Globe and Mail he questions how Martin could repeatedly cite the Charter as his rationale for supporting gay marriage while federal lawyers are fighting it in court.

In the latest decision in November, a panel of justices at the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the view of the Ontario Superior Court that the government's 1998 cutoff was not "rational."

"The impairment of the rights of same-sex survivors was not minimal, but was in fact substantial and arbitrary," the appeal court ruled. There is more at the G&M.

For more on same-sex or gay marriage, gay rights use the Technorati search box in the sidebar