What is the test for determining the best interests of the child in an application for a stay of execution?

… It is thus necessary to approach these applications from the perspective of the child and the child’s welfare. Generally, the central question is how the child is apt to be affected, should the stay be lifted or allowed to remain in place pending the determination of the appeal, having regard for such considerations as the potential for harmful disruption in the life of the child should the appeal succeed. In this respect, the objective identified in Wiegers v. Gray of determining the best interests of the child mirrors the objective of the chambers judge in the application which was before him.

In his reasons for granting the interim order the chambers judge noted both parties had agreed the guiding principle in matters concerning the parenting of their child is “the best interests of the child”. He observed the parties had also agreed that what is in the child’s best interests must be assessed having had regard to the principles outlined in Gordon v. Goertz, 1996 CanLII 191 (SCC), [1996] 2 S.C.R. 27, i.e., the court must consider the relationship between the child and the parents, the desirability of maximizing contact between the child and both parents, the custodial parent’s reason for moving (in the exceptional case where it is relevant to that parent’s ability to meet the needs of the child), and disruption to the child consequent on removal from family, schools and the community which the child has come to know.