Find Deadbeat Dads

In March of 2007, five so-called deadbeat dads in Ontario were tracked down thanks to a snitch website that posted their pictures online. The government-launched website, called Goodparentspay.com, received almost 17 million hits in the month that lead to the finding of the deadbeat fathers, and that resulted in about 200 tips from the public, according to Community and Social Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur. At that time, the website featured eighteen profiles of deadbeat parents posting photos and other personal information such as name, age, physical description, occupation, and last known location. Although Minister Meilleur expressed pride of the website, it is not without its critics who have complained that the results were unimpressive: finding the deadbeats is one thing, but getting them to pay child support is another. As Democrat Michael Prue remarked, “What the spouses and children need is action, not another website that does virtually nothing.”

Goodparentspay.com is just one tactic among others that the government has been using to whittle down the $1.3 billion in arrears owed in Ontario, along with other measures including confiscating passports and suspending driver’s licenses. The website is similar to one launched by the Alberta government several years ago. Alberta also announced that it would collect lottery winnings and restrict hunting and fishing licenses as ways to collect court-ordered support payments.

The Ontario deadbeat dad case underscores the challenge presented by this social problem and the lengths to which Canadian governments have gone in the attempt to make parents honor their financial support obligations.

Canadian law has determined that provinces and territories share responsibility with the federal government for matters relating to child support. In general, the federal Divorce Act sets out the rules for setting child support amounts if one is already divorced or planning to divorce. Provincial laws apply if one has never been married, is separated or planning to separate, but has decided not to divorce.

The regulations under the Divorce Act that help parents set child support amounts are called the Federal Child Support Guidelines. These guidelines consist of a set of rules for determining the amount of support that a paying parent should contribute toward his (or her) children. The guidelines came into effect on May 1, 1997; but if either parent wants to change the amount of a child support order or agreement prior to this date, he or she can either amend the existing order or agreement with the other parent or obtain a new court order.

It is important to note that there are separate tables for each province and territory, and those amounts vary from one province or another due to differences in provincial income tax rates. Changes to the tax treatment of child support (also effective as of May 1, 1997) has determined that such support is no longer taxable in the hands of the receiving parent and no longer deductible in the hands of the paying parent.

With regards to enforcement measures, the federal government amended other federal laws to provide the provinces and territories (which are primarily responsible for enforcement) with additional tools for collecting child support.