I was just reading over this Liberal Party Press Release on the cuts to Status of Women.
“The mean spirited cuts by the Conservative government announced this week may appeal to his socially conservative friends but they hurt so many others including women and aboriginals,” added Liberal Critic Anita Neville. “The Prime Minister has cut 39 percent of the operating budget from Status of Women, and he has cut the Court Challenges Program. During the election Stephen Harper said he would uphold the government’s commitments to women. Why has he broken that promise?”
That is inaccurate. The number may have had its origin with me, because I was one of the first to perpetuate that number on some websites, but I made the correction. The actual cut is 20%, becuase the $5 million cut is over two years. Basically, I took $23 million minus 10 million from the Women's Program. That's $13 million. The cut is over 2 years. So that's about a twenty per cent cut...BUT
I haven't been able to confirm the operation budget. I have to read through the SOW RPP on the Treasury Board, and the bureaucratese just gets to me. I'd have to print out the RPP, sit down and really look at it, because to someone who's new to this it's hard to find one's way.
Given the recent cuts to Status of Women Canada and the $1 billion in additional federal funding cuts that are yet to be announced, many worry that the department will be eliminated altogether.
Oh, music to my ears. But I doubt it.
Recent media reports indicate that several socially Conservative blogs have begun a campaign to eliminate the federal agency for the Status of Women.
That should be "Small-C" blogs, because many who participated were NOT members of the Conservative Party.
"Have begun"? The Blogburst was a month ago. By internet terms, that's quite a while ago...
The group REAL women of Canada, which also opposes same-sex marriage and legalized abortion, launched the campaign because of their belief that the agency “promotes feminist policies on the false premise that women in Canada are victims of a patriarchal society.”
Interesting, I wonder if the Liberal women could speak to that. Do they believe women are victims of patriarchy?
“The Harper Conservatives seem to be listening to groups like REAL Women instead of the women of Canada,” she said. “Is this Conservative minority government going to change the funding criteria in order to steer money to groups like REAL Women that support their anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-equality agenda?”
Belinda, you of all women, do not define "equality" for us.
Liberals have always been known for our commitment to women’s equality and defending women’s rights. We are proud of the strength of the female members of our caucus, which we believe reflects the strength of women all across this country.
Oh puh-leez. Liberal Women represent Liberals. Dippers represent Socialists. No one party represents all women.
When will some member of Parliament call into question the premises of the criticisms? There is NO WAGE GAP. The so-called "wage gap" happens because women have kids. That's the "social disability" that leads to women, collectively earning less. But why should an employer be forced to pay a woman more than she's worth, if she doesn't have the same seniority or ability?
When you have to make a choice, between having kids or not, there are always opportunity costs. People are not entitled to have everyone PAY for your choices.
If a woman is poor, here's my advice: find a job that pays a lot. Train for it, then go get it. Learn the skills that will help you get the job. You can do it. You do not need a hand out. There are plenty of professions that are suffering from shortages. Look for those. If you can do it, they will hire you.
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