Nova Scotia extends reach to recoup money from deadbeat parents

Nova Scotia is extending the reach for families looking to have court-ordered child and spousal support payments enforced.

It is among the changes proposed in the Financial Measures Act tabled Wednesday in the Nova Scotia Legislature.

Finance Minister John Lohr said the changes will modernize legislation and reduce red tape.

Twenty-six of the 41 pages contained in the proposed law implement a 2007 international convention on the "recovery of child support and other forms of family maintenance."

By signing on to this agreement, Nova Scotia families looking to recover monies owed to them for support will have recourse in 44 more countries.

Currently there are 19 countries that will work with the province to recover court-ordered support payments.

Those payments can be recovered in a variety of ways including withholding wages or pensions, putting liens on a property or taking the money from bank accounts.

A government official said Wednesday there are 10 individuals who might currently benefit from this extension of enforcement power.

'Clearly the act is outdated'

The Houston government said the law will also enact some of the measures included in the latest budget, including modest income tax breaks for individuals and a one per cent decrease in the small business tax rate.

The province will also get out of the film classification business by dismantling a little-known board and replacing it within the year by a self-regulating classification system.

Instead of the 10 Nova Scotians who regularly view and rate films coming to Nova Scotia for public viewing, film, video and video game distributors will rate their own products.

"Clearly the act is outdated and things need to be modernized," Lohr told reporters at a briefing to discuss the changes. "We live in a digital world. There's different ways of doing things, and I think having input from the makers of the film on the classification is eminently sensible as well.

"They understand what they're making. They understand their market."

Last year, members of the board reviewed and rated 611 films. They were paid $100 a day to carry out their duties.

Nova Scotia is one of only four provinces that still rate films. Once it relinquishes that duty, only Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia will continue to run their own ratings systems.