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Society
In Their Right Minds
by Linda Light
In a world
where the political directions of Right and Left make less and less
sense, one direction continues to hold some meaning. The Far Right, at
least in North America, still conjures up with some accuracy visions of
an ideology that opposes gender equality, abortion, same-sex marriage,
government-subsidized child care programs, and just about everything
else that has been hard-won by women's rights and minority rights
activists over the past three decades.
So it should not have come as any surprise to Canadians when its new,
minority neo-Conservative government, led by Stephen Harper, cut $5
million from the $13 million budget of its own federal agency, Status of
Women Canada; it also removed the word "equality" from the agency's
mandate. The government also announced that organizations would no
longer be eligible for funding for advocacy, government lobbying, or
research projects - although funding to REAL Women (a right-wing women's
organization supporting so-called "family values") and faith-based
groups would apparently continue.
Nor should it have come as any surprise that this government is
cancelling funding for the Court Challenges Program, arguably
disadvantaged and marginalized groups' best chance to challenge this
body blow to their rights in Canada.
The cuts to Status of Women Canada, still described on its website as an
agency "to promote gender equality and the full participation of women
in the economic, social, cultural and political life of the country",
appear to support what are widely seen as this government's views that
women's equality is no longer an issue in Canada.
Dolly William, president of the National Action Committee on the Status
of Women, said that this government "is simply applying Conservative
Party ideology to propagate the notion that women have reached equality.
This is especially puzzling when only 7 of the 27 of Harper's cabinet
are women. Is this what they mean by equality?" It is also puzzling
given that the Canadian government's own figures show that the average
income of women aged 16 and over from all sources in 2003 (the most
recent year for which statistics are available) was 62 per cent of that
of men. (Source: Women in Canada. A Gender-based Statistical Report.
2006. Statistics Canada)
The Court Challenges Program is a national non-profit organization
funded by the Canadian government, set up in 1978 to provide financial
assistance for important court actions that advance language and
equality rights guaranteed under Canada's Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. Cancelling the Court Challenges Program is a good move for any
government opposed to equality rights, for it has provided one of the
primary underpinnings for court challenges that have advanced French
language rights, aboriginal rights, women's rights, gay rights,
disability rights and the rights of other vulnerable and disenfranchised
peoples in Canada.
These cuts were not made in order to save money. They were announced at
the same time that it was announced that 100 per cent of Canada's $13.2
billion surplus was being used to pay down the national debt. These cuts
are entirely ideological in nature.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), an independent,
non-partisan research institute that examines issues of social and
economic justice from a progressive perspective, is critical of Canadian
government priorities of speeding up debt reduction at the expense of
social and other needed programs. "Canada is hoarding unprecedented
economic wealth while human insecurity - at home and abroad - deepens,"
wrote the CCPA of the previous Liberal government's debt-payment
schedule in the face of enormous spending cuts.
The current Conservative government's decision to spend the entire
surplus on paying down the debt, while at the same time eliminating
funding for equality-seeking, democracy-enhancing agencies makes the
previous Liberal government seem like a bastion of democratic
engagement.
These organizations and programs were not eliminated because they were
not doing effective work. On the contrary, they were eliminated because
they were doing effective work - work that this government does not want
done.
At a recent meeting of a mainstream international aid organization, the
CCPA executive director commented on the dramatic difference between
this government and its Liberal predecessor. "With the previous
government", he said, "no matter what our differences, we were always
welcomed at the table. They may not always have implemented our policy
suggestions, but they considered us legitimate players in the game, and
always listened to what we had to say. This government is completely
different. They do not care what we have to say and they do not want to
hear it. It doesn't matter how many voices are raised in protest against
their policies or how good their suggestions are. They don't want to
know, because they already know everything. Public input is simply not
of interest to them."
That is what is different about the Far Right agenda and the Far Right's
approach to policy development. And it appears to be one more thing that
the Harper government has in common with the Bush government: democracy
is only as deep as the last election. If the electorate elected them,
then this must be democracy. Any further discourse is not only beside
the point; it gets in the way of getting the job done.
Canada is a democratic country where the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
often speaks in the voice of the disenfranchised and where the judiciary
can make decisions independent of whatever government is in power. It is
frustrating for a government that knows exactly what it wants to do and
how to do it, to have to suffer dissenting voices. It is tempting to
silence those pesky dissenting voices, especially when it can be done in
the name of efficiency, "fat-trimming", and government accountability.
Who in their Right mind, after all, would argue that government should
fund the voices that question them? Isn't that what elections are for?
December 17,
2006
By arrangement with
Women's Feature Service
Top
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Society
The Week of December 17, 2006
India: The Shining, The Suffering and The
Pampered by Dr. Subhash Kapila
Modus Operandi of Empires by Gaurang Bhatt, MD
China: Balancing Power Relations in South and
South-East Asia
by Col. Rahul K. Bhonsle
Special Economic Zones: Boon or Disaster? by
Ramesh Menon
Manmohan Singh's Dangerous Declaration of 2006
by V. Sundaram
Health of Nations by J. Ajithkumar
Is there non-discriminatory Rule of Law in India?
by V. Sundaram
In Their Right Minds by Linda Light
Ethnic Issue Overtakes Nepal's Class War? by
Rita Manchanda
Looking Ahead in Gujarat by Manjari Sewak
Look Who's Talking! by Manisha Parekh
World Brotherhood: Love and Peace through
Poetry by Shernaz Wadia
Science, Arts and Literature for Human Culture
by TA Ramesh
River from the Land of Mystique Spells Doom
by VK Joshi
Keeping Thyroids in Order by Fehmida Zakeer
HIV/AIDS Bill -Pushing the Legal Envelop by
Kajal Bhardwaj
Papiya Ghosh: From JS to an End by Dr. Amitabh
Mitra
Hope for Battered Women by Marlinelza B. de
Oliveira
Homework for Men by Mini Sharma
The Perversity of Periyarana by V. Sundaram
A Shadow from Past Life a Story by Manasi Dutt
Romancing the Desert by Attreyee Roy Chowdhury
A Rebel of Innocence - 3 by Ashwini Ahuja
Roads in Chennai by Glory Sasikala Franklin
My God, What Have You Done! by Dhiraj
Bhimji Raniga
Sensationalism and the Media by Rajesh Talwar
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