In August 2006, Kate, myself and other bloggers initiated a blogburst against the tax-payer supported, perpetual grievance machine known as Status of Women Canada.
“In September the same year, the Tories announced they had cut $5 million over two years out of the agency’s $23 million annual budget. In December, Heritage Minister Bev Oda said 12 of the agency’s 16 offices were going to be shut down across the country, after a re-evaluation of the program showed it was not offering concrete help directly to women. According to the Public Service Alliance of Canada, 61 of the 131 jobs at the Status of Women were cut.”
But that was then…
“Subsequently, however, the Tories renewed federal funding of the organization. A Parliamentary review of the cuts took place in February 2007. REAL Women told LifeSiteNews.com that the House Committee was stacked with witnesses who opposed the cuts. The 27 witnesses opposed to the cuts were all funded directly by Status of Women and according to their testimony, said they regarded the government grants as their ‘entitlements.'”
(…)
“Verner said the total [2008] budget for the federal organization was $29.9 million, ‘a record for Status of Women Canada’. Under the government’s new Women’s Partnership Fund, the government provided $10 million to the agency in 2007 and has no plans to stop.”
lookout it isn’t ‘patronage’ if she got elected. I would think that it is patronizing, but only women can decide that, we’re in too deep on this stuff to just close the Ministry.
The position is identity politics and I agree with you, I don’t like it either. It is revolting that it ever existed .. .the problem is …it will take more Canadian women to call for an end to it and that will take time.
The only way to kill identity politics is over time or to get lucky and watch the race and gender politics cannibalize each other like the circus we’re seeing with the Hildebeest and Obamania.
ET…we did have a ‘blog-burst’ last year, and we did contact as many MP’s as possible. There were discussions and revelations, and for a time we were hopeful that the money being thrown at beaurocrats and advocates would stop.
I’m discouraged with this revelation.
Why were we led to believe that this kind of funding would be stopped?
My passion for ‘getting involved’ was ignited in the 90’s when as a SAHM we experienced no tax breaks and I was insulted by the big government spending on the feminist anti-family agenda.Gwen Landolt of REAL Women was our only advocate.The Reform movement gave me hope for change. A year ago I felt satisfied that my energy and excitement for the CPC was for the right reasons, and changes were being made.
Over the last year I have also defended the Harper government when it was criticised for being Lib-lite, and too quiet on too many issues.
Todays news just took the wind out of my sails.
Sahm in On – do you seriously think that the Liberal feminists, with their comfortable lifelong jobs, would give up without a fight?
They fought back – and therefore, we have to fight back. We have to do the same thing; go to the blogs and publicize what a collosal fraud these centres are. How they are really very comfortable jobs-for-feminist-activists, and that most of the money goes to their salaries. Almost zilch to any women-in-need.
You certainly don’t give up on fighting weeds or mice…just because they come back!
Sorry to hog this thread but identity politics is the next big “fight” as we see even in the USA who are at least 10 years ahead of us on the issues. But they are now in the midst of identity politics and they are “fighting” over it because it must be fought like fascism, communism and any sick ideology.
I just don’t understand how Conservatives can get so upset that they conclude … let the inmates (the Liberals) run the asylum and we will regain control later after they really screw it up.
Yes, I agree with nomdeblog and ET.
A li(e)bral is a li(e)bral until death. But Conservatives? As soon as something – that is possibly beyond their control, and it is, they are a MINORITY government – that’s it, we’re ready to hang them out to dry. Not voting Conservative, not funding Conservative, anymore.
No wonder we keep getting Liberal governments – we can’t seem to stick together. I’m not excited about the funding to SOW but the deck is stacked AGAINST US. I will continue to give the government and Stephen Harper the benefit of the doubt. Better him than Dion ANYDAY!!!
Well people. Is it time to start investigating these SOW’s? Can any body find some dirt? Shouldn’t be too hard.
Shine a spotlight and watch the Bugs scatter.
This is definitely entertaining.
It’s one of the reasons the CPC hasn’t received a damn penny from me since the last election.
Don’t worry, mark peters. I’ve sent the CPC lots of pennies. You see, I don’t think that fighting against an embedded economic and political structure is easy; I don’t expect it to be accomplished with the flick of a switch. I expect that the embedded population, the socialists, will fight for their ‘entitlements’. After all, they’ve had them for a long time. So, I don’t give up easily.
I think that the majority of Canadians are Liberal. It’s the default position because of the absolutely unique economic and political position of Canada. We are essentially embedded within the economic infrastructure of the US, and were embedded within the political infrastructure of the British Empire. This ’embeddedness’ means that we rely on Another Larger Govt, outside of our immediate contact, to Do Everything. We rely on the US for our economic well-being. We relied on Great Britian for our moral and legal and political well-being.
We have done NOTHING on our own. The so-called ‘repatriation of the constitution’, with the Charter of ‘Rights’ essentially set up Canada as a socialist structure, run by a centralist elitist govt.
This perspective is a Liberal perspective.
Elitist because our govt was defined, right from the start, as Closed. You had to be bilingual to really, really be a member of this Set of Governors.
Centralist because it put the locus of govtal power within Quebec’s hands; and reduced the power of Ontario by, recognizing and encouraging it as the focus of immigration,and then balkanizing that new population into separate identity groups and using identity politics to weaken Ontario as a political force.
It put in place an extremely powerful centralist infrastructure.
A propaganda site- the CBC.
It defined the Senate and Judiciary as Activist and Liberal, rather than objective and impartial.
No dictator could do better at setting up such a political and economic centralism with its many industrial subsidies, its massive ‘make-work’ projects and a hierarchical and closed political authority.
So, what we are seeing now, with the rise of the West and the rise of blogs, is a gradual, emerging, Conservativism, ie, individualism. But, it’s small, and growing. The default position of Canada is Liberal and Big Govt because that’s how we were formed; that’s our economy.
Unlike the US – we never broke free of the political connections.
Unlike Australia – we never broke free of the political connections.
And – we are embedded, absolutely a part of, the US economy.
So, this small Conservativism, is emerging, but it isn’t ‘natural’. It is, I think, necessary, because our population is growing beyong the carrying capacity of a central govt and beyond the carrying capacity of an embedded economy. It’s all about population size. The fact that the West is becoming more populated, and the West has not been an intimate part of the Ottawa-Montreal elite – is VITAL.
Think – the HRC are being attacked – not from Ontario or Quebec. But from Ezra Levant. The West.
Harper – the West.
Tom Flanagan and bricolage – the West.
So, the Centralists, the Liberals, will fight this new, emerging force of entrepreneurship and freedom. But, the population base, which has shifted WEST – is too strong.
A major problem, THE major problem, is Ontario. It ought to have been open, because of the immigration. But, the Liberals cleverly destroyed Ontario’s capacity to think, by segregating the incoming immigrants into isolate packets and setting them up as recipients of funding if they remained isolate packates…. That’s a major, major problem.
But I don’t give up easily. Some things are worth fighting for.
Ingrid:
“Better him than DION …”
Seriously – why? Can you name even one thing that the Conservative government has done differently than a Liberal government would have done? Just one.
Most of us here can reel of about a dozen examples of ways that Harper et.al. have double-crossed us, either through neglect or with flat out policy reversals.
Please show us something sufficiently positive to justify support for the CPC.
Ingrid:
Other than cutting the GSC. I will give then that.
Ingrid:
Other than cutting the GSC. I will give them that.
Zog, believe it or not, but you don’t speak for me.
So, when you say that ‘ Most of us here can reel of about a dozen examples of ways that Harper et.al. have double-crossed us, either through neglect or with flat out policy reversals.” – these are YOUR words. Not mine.
I can’t think of any situation where Harper has double-crossed us – either through neglect or flat out policy reversals’.
No, don’t try the Income Trusts; that was a pragmatic reaction to something NEW that was coming along, that is, all the funds that were suddenly jumping on the Income Trust bandwagon to evade taxation. If Harper hadn’t reversed his decision, it would have meant higher person income taxes to make up the shortfall. That’s not double-crossing; that’s securing our income. The ones who were double-crossing us were those institutions jumping on the tax-free bandwagon.
I don’t think that there’s anything that we’ve been double crossed on – or any evidence of neglect.
I think that we have a LOT of interference with our ability to live, via the Liberals. eg – their vacuous and vicious attempt to insist that we comply with the Kyoto scam; their insistence that we keep the gun registry which has nothing to do with crime but is an employment centre in the Maritimes; their slowness in passing a crime bill;etc etc
We did what we could last year. We were led to believe there would be change.My concern is the appearance of change vs. real change WRT this issue.
I am not discrediting the other CPC policies. I have not ripped up my card.But this issue has been the more passionate one for me.
myself and other bloggers initiated a blogburst against the tax-payer supported, perpetual grievance machine known as Status of Women Canada.
And here I thought you were talking about the Western Canadian Wheat Growers.
PMSH has done an exceptional job considering the atmosphere in which he is operating. Has he not covered all the issues he campaigned on.
Exceptional performance from a green PM and a party that has no previous experiance.
He is doing excactly the right thing. Sit back and observe. Get used to the levers of power, how the machine works. Deal with top priorities. Why stir up the enemy? Just keeping the ship sailing straight ahead is enough for now. Harper knows an election is comming. now is not the time to go to war against his political enemies ( Why bother when they are doing more damage to themselves than he could) Now is the time to plan his strategy and build up his strength. If he engages every small issue he shows too much that could benifit the liberals.(Remember Paul Martin and all his priorities)
But…watch for CPC to come out with guns blazing once the next election is called.
For the rest of us of the right leaning persuasion should continue to shine a light into the dark corners of these socialist leftist beuracracies. There are some 40 years of socialist programs. And any extra dirt that we can find will add to the war chest. SOW, HRC, CBC, CWB, Healthcare,etc. Harper needs this stuff to come from the grassroots. That is us people!!!
Just watching Lord of the Rings for the thousandth time and ET is Gandolf for me just keeping the troops in line with her passion and common sense against the Liberal/orc treachery from the East.
There is grumbling in the ranks but we will win out in the end. We have too many good guys on our side to ever drop the torch and let the dark side put out the light again if we can just keep the faith and support Harper.
And ET when we mention the IT’s we must mention the ‘little’ ( according to MSM who let it drop) incident involving Scott Brison and Goodale pre-election. Were the Libs planning to change the IT policy, then decided it was too risky politically?Remember the e-mail to the banker?
I hope that, as was the Conservative intention, the money that was given out has shifted from advocacy based activity to programs on the ground that benefit women’s specific problems and needs and are not wasted in support of politicised groups. If this is the case then it is a step forward.
ET
No, I’m not hung up on the IT caper, although I am a retiree living off of my investments, and it did cost me a couple of grand. The govt. action was unfortunately necessary.
Oddly enough, in your final paragraph, you highlighted the two failures which bug me the most. Harper is an intelligent man who knows that anthropogenic GW is probably a fantasy but, the Conservatives, with that braying arsehole Baird leading the charge, are now preparing to pee away a few $billion to remediate the “problem”.
With respect to firearms, buying or selling a gun is now a bigger pain in the neck than it was under the Liberals. Moreover, there has been no effort to ease transport and storage regulations -something that could have been done without new legislation. Harper is personally “anti-gun” and, with the old Reform contingent down to a dozen or so after the next election, don’t hold your breath waiting for any significant relief, even if the Conservatives come up with a majority in the next election.
orvict…good idea.
The info you require on the SWC is neatly documented by REAL Women. They have been watching the SWC games and expenditures for quite awhile.
http://www.realwomenca.com
ET and prospector….I agree totally with you.
I work in the federal civil service and ET is right about DUE process. You can’t get around it. That’s why everything takes so long.And to get the outcome you want, you just need to know what people and processes are required. Voila, your pet program is saved!
I have suggested several times how to make my job redundant and how that would likely improve the program where I work. Most of my colleagues are aghast…LOL.
“The problem with instant gratification is that it takes too long.” – Carrie Fisher
…I think she said this; perhaps my attribution is wrong. Nevertheless it applies to any Canadian frustrated from decades of looking at smug Liberal top-down micro-mismanagement of every aspect of our lives – who wants all wiped away yesterday. Effecting change in the real world takes real work: it takes holding to the fire the feet of elected Conservatives, and it takes educating those Canadians who have not yet learned to act on their own behalf that their lives will be immeasurably better if they are free to do so.
It will probably take some our money too.
At the same time, we need a realistic picture of how slowly new ideas can be forced through entrenched, self-serving bureaucracy, and a method of accurately judging progress. We have to realize that this recovery could take years, and decide to stick it out anyway. Think of it as trying to bring back to life the engine of a great machine into which a lifetime of fools have been pouring molasses when they haven’t been neglecting it entirely, stripping off needed parts and adding on a bunch of pretty chromed doodads that don’t do anything. This is as long-haul as anything ever gets – and utterly worth it when it finally runs as it should.
nomdeblog and ET – Am I supposed to have my feelings hurt because I have been called a “Liberal”? What I want is smaller government by responsible members of parliament who say what they’re going to do and do it. If it will be a Liberal government that does that – I’ll be happy, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for it. We all knew what the fuddle duddle kid was about and it was not small government. His legacy lives on in our government and bureaucratic institutions. It lives on in the NGP. It is costing us billions per year and must be dismantled – by government with the support of the taxpaying citizen as that is what it is – a creature of government. That is not big government, that is the end of big government. And yes we should all help in any way we can. Blogs, Letters, participation in riding meetings and elections etc. On the individual side the courses of action are clear. But on the big P political side – who champions this agenda?
We need to have smaller government. We are pretty sure it won’t come from the Liberals. But can we count on the Conservatives to deliver a conservative government? I just don’t know. The talk is there, but the actions just aren’t following the words. The way forward may be to talk about reducing budgets and actually delivering on reduced budgets. Or not to talk about reduced budgets at all, but talk about something they actually can deliver or are prepared to deliver.
Now I don’t advocate doing a Joe Clark. That would be stupid. But there are Conservative leaders and Liberal leaders who have had an agenda and stuck generally to it. Maybe the current crop of Conservatives have to realize that there are more than 5 things going on in this country and they need to have a policy for all of them rather than a gut level reaction that they are not prepared to support. They have the levers of power. They know the issues now. They should be able to develop a comprehensive small government policy that they can weather the political heat on for more than 5 issues. I for one am counting on them, more than I’m counting on the others, even if you think that makes me a big government Liberal. In the meantime, I’ll continue to do what I can as an individual to promote the concept of less government.
I guess telling Canadians the truth about SOW then cutting them is not an option in the same way telling the truth about climate change is out of the question so we go along with that socialist tripe as well.
How do you stop the creeping socialism if 53% of all workers in Canada are a part of it?
53% of all workers in Canada are paid directly or indirectly by one level of government or another, This is why public employee unions should never ever exist, they now make up the single largest voting block in Canada.
rroe, let’s deal with some realities.
1. Try to think of a political hero that gave you smaller government. Thatcher, Reagan, Klein, Harris? All they did was slow down the growth.
2. Canadians are not conservative .. look at the seats in Ottawa, look at the polls. About 60% are not conservative.
3. Baby boomers are retiring; they want more entitlements not less. Boomers rule. Health Care (with its government union kitchen help that Durward alludes to) will suck us dry.
rroe perhaps you do understand that this will not only take time but that you can’t win an election telling baby boomers that you are going to shrink government. All we can do is make government accountable and over time have the uncountable aspects of government visible enough for taxpayers to want it shut down. The calculus on this woman’s issue may be heading in that direction but is not there yet. Conservatives cannot win a single seat in Toronto without more support from women… ditto Montreal and Vancouver .. .that’s a lot of seats.
The good news is there is a strategy to accomplish what you want and that is decentralizing. The cut in the GST allows for a gradual process of decentralizing out of Ottawa down stream which will make the 3 levels of government more accountable and the taxpayer will understand better who is funding what. At the moment they have no idea. An MP canvassing gets asked questions about speed bumps and traffic lights. People are tuned out and have no idea how we are governed. Only a hand full political junkies, like some on this thread, have some idea.
So the primary conservative weapon to tackle this big government conundrum is de-centralization. But most have no idea what that means. Many have never even heard of the BNA Act which Trudeaupia has bastardized over the last 40 years and if the Liberals ever get in again they will give you Day Care which allow them more control of your wallet. The Liberals want to have unionized Day Care grow the 53% of the population that Durward mentioned.
What you are asking for will have to be actively fought for by the 1/3 of the population that might be inclined to lean toward the idea of self-sufficiency with a safety-net for catastrophic events. We need to constantly fight for this as if it was the Cold War … but Canadians wouldn’t know how to do that because we didn’t fight against the commies in the Cold War. As I recall a high percentage of Baby Boomers were carrying signs on campus saying they’d rather be Red than Dead.
Plus ça change
It’s all about ENTITLEMENTS, it’s how the Libranos stay in power. Toss money at every damned special interest group that howls for money.
We have listened to Liberal dames like Maria Minna and others howling for this sink hole to be funded, and how terrible it was the Conservatives were cutting them down.
The Liberal Left want everything funded from day care to quilting bees so how close are we to a Communistic state? How can the common people possibly pay to look after everyones special interests and stay afloat?
We’re close to a situation where more and more people will be going to food banks to support these Socialist schemes.
“Cutting off your nose to spite your face”. When I read some posters the above proverb springs to mind.
Let’s looks at facts. Harper’s in a minority government situation and his hands are tied in many ways. He has CBC and MSM ready to pounce should he advocate conservative values too strongly. For example look at the global warming issue. The only way Harper could get media off his back was to make like he is buying into the scam but in reality he still hasn’t committed Canada to Kyoto which is a good thing. Most government action has been on land and water pollution which keeps the media at bay for now.
I believe all conservative should work towards a common goal and try to get Harper the majority government he so desperately wants. Should he get that majority and then not implement more conservative programs I for one would be very surprised and disappointed.
I don’t want to even contemplate the alternative. Imagine Dion and Obama holding the levers of power. Now that is scary.
i am the only conservative in canada
It’s a start. How young is your wife Whitey?
If the conservatives are going to play the “let’s not scare the masses” game, why not fire all of the bitches and put their own bitches in? It wouldn’t even be hard to do as there already exists a shadow NACSOW in REAL women.
“They have the levers of power”
In a minority government – no they don’t
Re, way up this thread, Josee Verner’s “patronage” appointment: I wasn’t talking her election to Parliament. I was talking about her appointment to Cabinet. A Quebec female’s turn, you know, that sort of thing.
peters…obviously you haven’t read or understood this discussion.
Many differences between the SWC and REAL Women…the main one being funding.