The Ontario legislature has now passed Bill 89, the “Supporting Children, Youth and Families Act, 2017.” This new law effectively gives the province the right to seize children from families who oppose LGBTQ+ and transgender ideologies, and allows government agencies to effectively ban couples who disagree with the government on those issues from fostering or adopting children.

The final vote on the bill was held last Thursday morning, and it received royal assent Thursday afternoon.

ARPA and other pro-family groups had been putting a lot of pressure on MPPs to vote against the bill. While it ultimately passed, it appears the lobbying did have an impact.

When the bill was introduced at second reading back in March, it passed unanimously. On final reading, that didn’t happen. The Conservative caucus – at least those who showed up for the vote – opposed the bill as a block. The final vote was 63 to 23 in favour. Every single Liberal MPP voted in favour of the legislation. PC Leader Patrick Brown was absent from Queen’s Park for the vote.