News Items:
-
<NEW> (posted June 9, 2008) Reality Check: Liberals Suddenly Concerned About Gender Equality
<NEW> (posted June 9, 2008) Reality Check: Liberals Suddenly Care About Auto Industry
<NEW> (posted May 29, 2008) First Nation's National Day of Action
<NEW> (posted May 17, 2008) Boshcoff Embarrasses Northerners
<NEW> (posted May 17, 2008) The Seniors Charter of Canada
<NEW> (posted May 12, 2008) C-J Letter to Editor Response
<NEW> (posted May 12, 2008) Day of Mourning Statement
<NEW> (posted May 12, 2008) Harper's Corporate Handouts
<NEW> (posted May 12, 2008) The Four Agreements are..
John Rafferty: Reality Check
Reality Check: Liberals Suddenly Concerned About Gender Equality
- Today, Stéphane Dion announced his support for a Commissioner for gender equality, but his own party would not fare well under the scrutiny of the new Commissioner. The Liberal record:
- • Stéphane Dion named only 12 women to his 51-member shadow cabinet.
- • Stéphane Dion has refused to implement the recommendations of his own party’s Women’s Caucus.
- • Only 26% of Liberal candidates in the last election were women - and that was two years after then Liberal Leader Paul Martin said he looked forward to the day that the number of women in Parliament reflected their share of the population.
- • Program funding for women’s organizations was cut by more than 25% under Liberal governments in the 1990s.
- • In 1993, the Liberals promised to create 150,000 new child care spaces, but 13 years and three majority governments later they had not created a single space. • Successive Liberal governments failed to implement the recommendations of the 2004 Pay Equity Task Force.
- • Their changes to eligibility criteria significantly decreased women’s access to Employment Insurance.
- • The Liberal government disbanded the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women - a semi-independent agency that conducted research on a wide range of issues as they affect women.
- • Liberal governments handed out over $100 billion in tax cuts, while programs that benefit women lost out.
During today’s announcement, Liberal Status of Women critic, Maria Minna, cited the Spanish cabinet, which is 50% female, as an example to strive for. With a shadow cabinet composed of only 23% women, and a caucus that is only 21.4% women, Dion’s Liberals are a long way off from that goal. And they won’t get there any time soon, with their objective of 30% female candidates in the next election.
Even Liberals know that their words are not enough. Martha Hall Findlay, MP for Willowdale, said when she ran in the 2006 leadership contest: “How do we get more women [to run for our party]? It’s enough to get up and say this, but not enough to then put it into action. And honestly, we have been saying this for a very long time.”
There is only one party in Parliament that is steadfastly committed to women’s equality and that’s Jack Layton’s NDP. The NDP believes that women’s equality is fundamental to this country and is committed to achieving it in every walk of life – from the composition of the House of Commons, to pay equity, to childcare. Women make up 41% of the NDP caucus – the highest proportion of women Members of Parliament in Canadian history. When it comes to women’s equality it’s not enough to talk the talk - you have to walk the walk.
Submitted by: John Rafferty, NDP Federal Candidate, Thunder Bay Rainy River