The Conservatives’ Plan to Get Rid of Women’s Groups?

Upon reading this article on Rabble.ca, I almost expected to hear the Conservative Party laughing evilly amidst the smoke of cigars. Tom Flanagan had this to say about the Conservative’s cuts to Status of Women…

Tom Flanagan, one of Stephen Harper’s closest advisors and three-time national campaign manager, is currently doing publicity for his new “insider’s” book on Harper’s government and rise to power.

If equality-seeking groups are paying any attention to Flanagan, it is unlikely they are doing so for political advice. Yet recently Flanagan, on CBC Radio’s The House, provided such groups, including progressive women’s organizations, with some of the most useful insights on how to advance an equality agenda and a women’s agenda under the Harper government.

Flanagan calls funding cuts to Status of Women Canada and the elimination of the Court Challenges Program a “nice step,” asserting without equivocation that Conservatives will “defund” all equality-seeking groups – with feminists at the top of the list. He goes further, clarifying that Conservatives also plan to choke-off these groups’ supposedly privileged access to government by, for example, denying “meetings with ministers.” But for strategic reasons, Flanagan notes, this will all happen incrementally. To avoid the perception of mean-spirited retribution, he says, “incrementalism is the way to go.”

Given ‘Canada’s New Government’s’ track record on women, I am not surprised that this is potentially the game plan.

For example, the Conservatives decisively eliminated the budget for NAWL (National Association of Women and the Law) and with this move eliminated its effective and focused policy-based campaigns for such issues as pay equity, legal aid, and economic rights. Yet groups that may be perceived to have a more nebulous or international focus remain funded (for now) in the government’s Status of Women budgets. Groups like this need to interrogate their own role in facilitating the death by a thousand cuts that Harper is perpetrating on equality-seeking groups – those of us that Flanagan calls client organizations or “Liberal outrider organizations.”

Equality advocates have a distinct choice to make here between being incremental and being oppositional, which in the current context means being effective. To make this choice wisely, women’s organizations should take a further cue from Flanagan by playing strategically. Stop being the nice guy, so to speak.

The article has a lot more details about the authors suggestions for how women’s groups need to combat Harper’s strategies. Read it!

P.S. After publishing this post I realized that there was something that I forgot to add. Ah, yes…. They can take away our funding but they can’t take away our feminisms! (and the political pie will wind up on their face!). That was my idea of a war cry. Let it reverberate through the blog0sphere!

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The Conservatives’ Plan to Get Rid of Women’s Groups?

Upon reading this article on Rabble.ca, I almost expected to hear the Conservative Party laughing evilly amidst the smoke of cigars. Tom Flanagan had this to say about the Conservative’s cuts to Status of Women…

Tom Flanagan, one of Stephen Harper’s closest advisors and three-time national campaign manager, is currently doing publicity for his new “insider’s” book on Harper’s government and rise to power.

If equality-seeking groups are paying any attention to Flanagan, it is unlikely they are doing so for political advice. Yet recently Flanagan, on CBC Radio’s The House, provided such groups, including progressive women’s organizations, with some of the most useful insights on how to advance an equality agenda and a women’s agenda under the Harper government.

Flanagan calls funding cuts to Status of Women Canada and the elimination of the Court Challenges Program a “nice step,” asserting without equivocation that Conservatives will “defund” all equality-seeking groups – with feminists at the top of the list. He goes further, clarifying that Conservatives also plan to choke-off these groups’ supposedly privileged access to government by, for example, denying “meetings with ministers.” But for strategic reasons, Flanagan notes, this will all happen incrementally. To avoid the perception of mean-spirited retribution, he says, “incrementalism is the way to go.”

Given ‘Canada’s New Government’s’ track record on women, I am not surprised that this is potentially the game plan.

For example, the Conservatives decisively eliminated the budget for NAWL (National Association of Women and the Law) and with this move eliminated its effective and focused policy-based campaigns for such issues as pay equity, legal aid, and economic rights. Yet groups that may be perceived to have a more nebulous or international focus remain funded (for now) in the government’s Status of Women budgets. Groups like this need to interrogate their own role in facilitating the death by a thousand cuts that Harper is perpetrating on equality-seeking groups – those of us that Flanagan calls client organizations or “Liberal outrider organizations.”

Equality advocates have a distinct choice to make here between being incremental and being oppositional, which in the current context means being effective. To make this choice wisely, women’s organizations should take a further cue from Flanagan by playing strategically. Stop being the nice guy, so to speak.

The article has a lot more details about the authors suggestions for how women’s groups need to combat Harper’s strategies. Read it!

P.S. After publishing this post I realized that there was something that I forgot to add. Ah, yes…. They can take away our funding but they can’t take away our feminisms! (and the political pie will wind up on their face!). That was my idea of a war cry. Let it reverberate through the blog0sphere!

The Weekend to End Breast Cancer!

Well, it was a long weekend but a wonderful one! The Weekend to End Breast Cancer raised $5.1 million for the BC Cancer Foundation! I had the privilege of meeting some fabulous women and men who came out to walk the 60km and even got a bouquet of beautiful orchids from one fabulous walker! All in all it was a fabulous experience! But an incredibly tiring experience as well!

Kaitlin and I are both currently recuperating… regular blogging to commence next week!

Weeklong Blogging Hiatus!

We will be back! Unfortunately, myself and my assistant editor Kaitlin both work for the BC Cancer Foundation’s Weekend to End Breast Cancer which will be taking place this weekend August 17-19! This means we will be very, very busy and will not have time to post.

I’m really looking forward to this weekend – as it has special meaning to me. My mother is a breast cancer survivor and just this year celebrated 10 years of being cancer free. This year my mom also found out that one of her friends’ breast cancer has come back. Beth is an absolutely wonderful woman and even though I will be tired and not get much sleep this weekend, I will think of her and my mother and all the women who have had the disease and that will give me strength.

Women’s Groups Layoff Staff or Close their Doors…

This is just terrible news! It appears that because of the new funding criteria for grants from the Status of Women Canada, organizations that have been mainstays in the women’s community and great advocates for women’s issues, are looking down the barrel of their own demise. This article comes off the Liberal Party’s website, but despite its partisan nature, I think it articulates a crucial issue facing women’s groups right now.

As feared by many women across Canada, the anti-women ideology of the current Conservative government is forcing more women’s groups to lay off staff and close their doors,” said Ms. Minna.

The most recent victim of the Conservatives’ anti-women agenda is the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW), which had to lay off three out of five staff because the organization no longer qualifies for funding from Status of Women Canada.

The Conservative government made changes to the rules that prevent any group that advocates for women’s equality from receiving funding. “Minister for Status of Women Bev Oda uses smoke and mirrors to try and keep from Canadians what is really happening,” said Ms. Minna. “In addition to denying funding to women’s groups, 12 of 16 Status of Women’s regional offices have been closed, a move that particularly isolates women in rural areas.”

Time is running out for many other organizations. For example, the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) and the Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) are deeply concerned for the future well-being of their organizations. Ms. Minna said this story is becoming far too common among women’s groups.

“The Conservative government is trying to silence the voices of Canadian women when there is so much work still to do to for them to reach true social, political, economic, cultural, and legal equality in Canada,” she said.

For those who might not be aware, all of the groups mentioned in the article are groups that have been crucial at securing women’s equality in the past. Without them we would not have many of the priveleges that we as women take for granted.

I think it is such a tragedy to see these groups close their doors or not be able to run their programs properly because of lack of funding. I encourage you all to write your MP about this issue!

Women’s Groups Layoff Staff or Close their Doors…

This is just terrible news! It appears that because of the new funding criteria for grants from the Status of Women Canada, organizations that have been mainstays in the women’s community and great advocates for women’s issues, are looking down the barrel of their own demise. This article comes off the Liberal Party’s website, but despite its partisan nature, I think it articulates a crucial issue facing women’s groups right now.

As feared by many women across Canada, the anti-women ideology of the current Conservative government is forcing more women’s groups to lay off staff and close their doors,” said Ms. Minna.

The most recent victim of the Conservatives’ anti-women agenda is the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW), which had to lay off three out of five staff because the organization no longer qualifies for funding from Status of Women Canada.

The Conservative government made changes to the rules that prevent any group that advocates for women’s equality from receiving funding. “Minister for Status of Women Bev Oda uses smoke and mirrors to try and keep from Canadians what is really happening,” said Ms. Minna. “In addition to denying funding to women’s groups, 12 of 16 Status of Women’s regional offices have been closed, a move that particularly isolates women in rural areas.”

Time is running out for many other organizations. For example, the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) and the Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) are deeply concerned for the future well-being of their organizations. Ms. Minna said this story is becoming far too common among women’s groups.

“The Conservative government is trying to silence the voices of Canadian women when there is so much work still to do to for them to reach true social, political, economic, cultural, and legal equality in Canada,” she said.

For those who might not be aware, all of the groups mentioned in the article are groups that have been crucial at securing women’s equality in the past. Without them we would not have many of the priveleges that we as women take for granted.

I think it is such a tragedy to see these groups close their doors or not be able to run their programs properly because of lack of funding. I encourage you all to write your MP about this issue!