Welcome
to our site
CanWIN
e-2000
The
Canadian
Women's
Information
Network
for Election 2000
|
Other Countdowns:
"This week marks the eleventh anniversary of
a unanimous vote in the House of Commons to eliminate child poverty
in Canada by the year 2000.
Not only have we failed to reach that goal,
we're further from it now than when MPs made their solemn pledge.
According to the latest figures available,
one in five children had to cope with poverty in 1998, compared with one
in seven in 1989.
Worse still, in the midst of a federal election
campaign, most of the parties that took the 1989 pledge to wipe out poverty
among children are giving our neediest kids short shrift."
Full story: The
Toronto Star
|
|
MONDAY NIGHT
CBC-TV News
Date: Monday, November 20, 2000
Time: 8:00 p.m.
THE NATIONAL
ACTION COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
invites you to
the FEDERAL PARTIES'
DEBATE ON WOMEN'S ISSUES
"Women's Vote Count:
Can Women Count
on Your Party?"
"This Debate will allow the five major
federal Leaders to outline their policy
positions on questions raised by women
from every region of this country."
While all five of the Parties have confirmed
their participation, the Leaders of
the NDP,
Alexa McDonough and the PC, Joe Clark
have made firm personal commitments
to
attend, while Jean Chretien and Stockwell
Day's campaigns have indicated that
they
would not personally participate and
have
put alternative names forward.
"What are they afraid of?" asked Terri
Brown, NAC President. "Women, who not
only make up 52% of the electorate but
over 66% of the UNDECIDED voters,
want to speak directly to Jean Chretien
and Stockwell Day!"
"I ask them both: Are Canadian
women a
priority or not?" continued Ms. Brown.
"We want to hear concrete short and long
term plans and strategies that address
the
equality, justice and social issues
for women." |
|
 We
did it!
Monday, November 13
Live from Halifax
"We were part the first national CBC television
election townhall
on Monday, 3 November 2000!"
FEATURE:
Question Period
Asking
the candidates
Many of our students had questions for the
candidates at the CBC town hall, but time did not allow everyone to pose
their questions. Join in and see our questions and the answers we researched!
Join us in the
Forum and tell us how you would have responded to these two questions:
What do you want
your federal government to do?
What should be the role of the federal
government Canadians elect on November 27th? |
the
Forum
Click
here, please register
and join us in
the
CanWIN forum, a discussion group on
Women
and Election 2000 Issues.
Hot Quotations from the
Forum:
Forum visitor, Frank, states:
"Just what the country needs! More whining
feminists carping and braying about how they need, need, need and are entitlted
to more, more, more... Society has bent over backwards to accomodate women,
if women can't make it on their own in this society, they don't deserve
to make it...
And even though the Universities are being run by misandrist admission
boards and being turned "girl-friendly" which we see with the drop of male
enrollment down to 40% men and 60% women - we still see women opting for
the MRS degree's...."
A new visitor, Russell, states:
"As a member of a family of all boys, I don't think I fully understand
the issues this network seeks to address. I do, on the other hand,
have a great desire to learn more (without jumping to one opposing side
or the other as though that were a good thing!) while I have the luxury
of claiming naivete. Just remember, to whom much is given, much is
expected. So if you have a great font of (pertinent) knowledge to
share, please do so and keep the discussion informative and active.
Nothing is worse than apathy and nothing is so effective at stifling productive
discussion."
Autumn suggests: "I find it so irritating
when individuals think that everytime information relative to women's issues
comes out, that it is automatically women whining about how they
have been wronged. Why not simply look at this website for what it really
is: a means to inform voters of concerns related to women?"
In a discussion
on aboriginal women's issues, Peter states: "It is important
to look at other alternatives in the upcoming federal election campaign.
The NDP are committed to the status quo and even went as far as to suggest
that they would form a working cooperatively with the liberal party.
Although the NDP are committed to working on health issues, The Green party
under the leadership of Joan Russow is poised to address the health
concerns of Canada's First Nations."
Angela is inviting Forum participants to
think about "Female senior citizens that are at the greatest disadvantage
economically, especially those who were never married. What do you feel
that the Government should do to create security for these women?"
Katie B. states: "Today's elderly women
have done so much for Canada. They are our mothers, grandmothers,
loved one and generous volunteers.
They have worked to build Canada as a nation in the last century, made
sacrifices to ensure Canada remained a free nation during the World Wars,
and have fought to improve the status of women. Now, I feel that
the least we can do to repay them for all they have done is to guarantee
that they are now provided for. "
Russell suggests: "Notice I haven't
made too many consistently declarative statements regarding the solution
to the issues of inequality in the workplace. I don't know if there
is a legal solution. I think it is a moral problem and that dictating
morals is a dangerous thing. Children learn nothing about what the
Greek call "kaross" (hope I spelled that right), the unbiased act of caring
with true empathy for another (my paraphrase) and thus they focus more
on getting around doing the right thing when it isn't convenient since
it is just another rule to be broken.
Shortcuts and temporary solutions (affirmative action) don't fix the problem,
they treat the symptoms but the cause persists. Sure it feels great
to have a nice shot of cortazone near a fractured bone to make the pain
go away but if the bone isn't reset, it will never fully heal and never
work up to its potential.
Someone named Prospector proposes:
"I don't care who stays at home with the baby, or what job a woman might
have. But I do want the best society we can have. The only
way to do this is to let the people who are the most qualified do what
they are most qualified at doing, regardless of skin colour, ethnicity,
or
gender. Things won't be 50/50, sometimes the society will be controlled
by men, sometimes women. Does it really matter? Problems arise
when people focus on how we are different, solutions come about when we
focus on how we are the same!"
Paula dropped in: "I'm from London
Ont managing a campaign for a federal male candidate. Just hopped on the
site. It's great...... (I'm a U of T law student)."
Jennifer asks a question that perhaps someone
can address: "We talk about women's rights and whatnot and
equal opportunity. I don't think that we should focus so much on gender
but rather on capabilities. It is true that some jobs suit men more
than women, and vice versa, but one should not be discriminated against
because of their gender. Hey, there are female construction
workers, and male nurses, so why should somebody get paid more or less
because of their gender?"
Greg expressed his concerns: I want
the federal government to start providing more debt relief for students
who are graduating with a degree. ...With decreased funding that
means there are less professors and less resources available to students.
...
Come on into the
Forum to read the full text
...and the responses!
What do you think? Join us
in the Forum!
|
the POLITICAL AXE
INTERVIEW e  c
e r p t s:
Amanda Clark INTERVIEWED Bev
Braaten
PC Candidate
Langley - Abbotsford
| e c e r p t
"...as a women I recognize
the important role that
women's shelters play in protecting women from violence
and
providing refuge in times of need.
In turn, I support the need for funding for organizations
that promote such a worthy cause."
for the full story, click here to go to thePolitical
Axe |
|
| 01 011 0011 0111 01101 011 01111 01010101
stats
track:
"One in five Canadian women is living
in poverty-- that's 2.8 million women."
"Women make of what
men earn for full-year, full-time work."
"Canada has the 5th largest wage gap
between women and men full-time workers out of the world's 29 most
developed countries."
"The average income of Aboriginal women
is $11,900 compared to $17,400 for Aboriginal men, and $17,600 for
all Canadian women."
"Sixty-seven percent of minimum wage
earners in Canada are women."
"Thirty-seven percent of lone mothers
with paid employment must raise a family on less than $10 per hour."
Stats from the CRIAW
website for their contribution to the World March of Women 2000 |
| MEDIA SPIN
QUERY: IS IT SEXIST OR FAIR JOURNALISM
TO REFER TO THE LEADER OF THE NDP'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LEADERS' DEBATE
AS 'HARPING'? WAS SHE INDEED 'HARPING'?
OFFER YOUR INSIGHT IN THE FORUM
"...Ms. McDonough harping
on health care and investment
in social services."
from the
globe and mail's debate analysis
On Wednesday November 22, 2000 Joe Clark
visited Acadia University. Where Tom Peace and Fidel Castro asked
him “Where do you stand on the twining of Highway 101, do you believe the
accidents are caused more by careless driving or the need of a twined Highway?”
He responded that although there are many
reasons other then the facts that the highway was not divided, twinning
was the only option to significantly reduce the amount of accidents.
This is what the Halifax Herald had to say
about this:
Mr. Clark spent about an hour walking
the campus and greeting students at the entrance to Vaughan Memorial Library
and the Beveridge Arts Centre.
Tom Peace, a 20-year-old history
student from Dundas, Ont., confronted Mr. Clark about Highway 101, the
deadliest highway in the province. "It's a big concern here," said Mr.
Peace. "A lot of students drive that highway regularly to Halifax."
The issue of the highway, which
has claimed 65 lives since 1993, most of them in head-on collisions, was
also raised by a student in the economics class.
"Twinning has to happen," Mr. Clark
told the students. Later, in an interview on his campaign bus, the Tory
leader said Highway 101 has emerged as the most important issue in Kings-Hants
in the campaign for the Nov. 27 election.
He and Mr. Brison, first elected in 1997,
are lobbying the Liberal government for front-end loading of funding to
the province for the highway project, he said. "There has to be federal
involvement in this."
The province has made twinning of
the highway a priority, but is waiting for a commitment from the feds before
beginning the $250-million project.
Transportation Minister Ron Russell
announced Tuesday that clearing of 20 kilometres of land, beginning at
Mount Uniacke, will begin this winter in preparation of the twinning. http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2000/11/23/f203.raw.html
In a new thread on Debate Spins in the Forum,
Jeff offered another quotation. He writes that columnist Hugh
Winsor stated: "NDP Leader Alexa McDonough
was consistent, if somewhat shrill."
Jeff writes: "It
bothers me when I hear the word shrill used to discribe a female politician.
It seems that many of the pundits will dismiss a female politician as shrill
if she "pipes up" or
dismiss her as not aggressive
enough if she doesn't." |
|
| Brenda O'Neill, assistant political studies professor at the University
of Manitoba:
"...the lack of attention also speaks to her point [O'Neill's]about
the media treating elections as simply a race, and she also points to the
media as information gatekeepers.
"It decides what to talk about and what is news," she said.
"In general, issues are not addressed enough. The campaign is about
the leaders and winability."
as quoted in The
Winnipeg Free Press |
WANTED:
NICE DEMOCRACY SEEKS INFORMED CITIZENS!
What's a two-tiered health care system? Check out the great
CBC Election
DICTIONARY before you vote!
You're also welcome to visit our class website, The
Digital Agora, for powerpoint slides on a host of issues AS WELL
AS OUR OWN GLOSSARY, AND OUR OWN online NEWSPAPERS that cover
topics related to the election ! |
Canadian Chronology
Link for Interesting Facts such as:
1993 · Ethel Blondin-Andrew
was the first aboriginal woman appointed to a senior political level as
Secretary of State (Training and Youth). Blondin-Andrew was also the first
aboriginal woman to ever sit in the House of Commons.
It’s your vote!
It’s your decision.
The freedom to vote is one of our most important
rights as a Canadian citizen-
Yet, as countries around the world fight to
gain and maintain this right,
from : Our
Kids Can Vote - Canada
| Gender
"Quote-eh?" |
| I
myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only
know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that
differentiate me from a doormat.... -Rebecca West (1913) |
| Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself.
That is why some people with mediocre talent but with great inner drive,
go much farther than people with vastly superior talent. - Sophia Loren,
Actor (http://www.caterinar.com/wow_2b.html)
We've chosen the path to equality, don't let the turn us around.
- Geraldine Ferraro, First Woman Nominated for US Vice President (http://www.caterinar.com/wow_2b.html)
|
| "I think the key is really about policy, not leadership or image
politics," says University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young. "It's
pretty clear a substantial number of female voters are looking for governments
that maintain some sort of a social safety net, (candidates) that are talking
about issues that matter -- about education, families and health care."
Full story: "Gender
gap separates voters"
by Suzanne Wilton, Calgary Herald |
| Here is a quotation from our first lady in the House of Commons,
Agnes McPhail, 1890-1954
"I want for myself what I want for other women, absolute equality.
After that is secured, then men and women can take turns at being angels."
This quotation came from the website dedicated to Women's History
Month this past October.
http://victoria.tc.ca/Community/Whist/
|
| "I think the key is really about policy, not leadership or image
politics," says University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young. "It's
pretty clear a substantial number of female voters are looking for governments
that maintain some sort of a social safety net, (candidates) that are talking
about issues that matter -- about education, families and health care."
Full story: "Gender
gap separates voters"
by Suzanne Wilton, Calgary Herald |
NDP Leader Alexa McDonough ... accused "Liberal
Leader Jean Chrétien of ignoring the concerns of women by not putting
enough money into programs to help children, enhance pay equity, end domestic
violence and provide affordable housing for single mothers."
"Instead of the excitement of white-water rafting, just maybe Jean
Chrétien could check out the thrill of waiting for six consecutive
hours in a crowded emergency room with a feverish child," Ms. McDonough
told a boisterous crowd ...
Full Story: "McDonough battles Alliance,
Liberal stance on women's issues" in the Globe
and Mail |
| "Fewer women are running for the federal Liberals in this election
-- so few, in fact, that the governing party is unlikely to keep its long-standing
promise to run women in 25 per cent of the ridings across Canada. "
Source:
"Women candidates in short supply"
by: Susan Delacourt, 1 Nov. 2000
Full story in The
Calgary Herald
|
Much Music Campaign Ad
Elections Canada sent 400,000 notices to every Canadian who turned 18
last year, reminding them to register for the federal voters list.
So far, only 25 per cent of those people have responded. To get registered,
voters must contact the returning officer in their riding.
The numbers can be found on the Elections
Canada website or by calling 1-800-INFO-VOTE. |
| A total of 62 of the 301 MPs elected to the
House of Commons in 1997 were women, but this constitutes only 21% of all
MPs.
Overall, 24.4% of candidates in the 1997 election
were women, compared with 22% in 1993. In 1993, 53 women were elected,
which represented only 18% of the 295 MPs at that time.
Stats from Nelson
Canada |
According to Stats Canada (1998), in Atlantic Canada, women with
comparable qualifications to men, earn on average only 81.3% of a man's
wage with NFLD being the lowest at 78.8% and PEI the highest at 93.5%. |
A report released on November 6th, by a web site via verticalnet.com,
concerning privatisation of health care (http://www.nurses.com/content/homepage/)
was based on six regional assessments of health care reform and showed
that,
“shifting care from institutions to private households transfers
care work from paid to unpaid family caregivers and reinforces traditional
gender roles. Women continue to perform most of the
unpaid care giving work within the home, often at a cost to their own health
or economic security.” |
| In Atlantic Canada, nearly one in five women
live below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off line. |
|
