Just the Facts
Harper ended a woman’s right to pay equity
- The Conservatives have refused to move forward on the issue of equal pay for equal work.
- Liberal Leader, Michael Ignatieff’s Private Member’s Bill C-471 will recognize pay equity as a human right.
- In 2009, Harper introduced the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act. Despite the misleading title, the law reintroduces sex discrimination into pay practices by allowing public sector employers to consider market demand in determining compensation.
Harper refused to include a woman’s right to choose in Canada’s G8 maternal health funding
- Unsafe abortion practices contribute to 13% of maternal deaths in the world (67,000 women per year). To exclude abortion from G8 funding is not only shameful public health policy, but also denies women the right to life, liberty and security.
Under Harper’s government, Canada fell by 18 ranks in the Gender Gap Index
- In 2004, the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index ranked Canada 7th. In the 2009 Gender Gap Index, Canada ranked 25th.
Women account for only 15% of Harper’s Conservative MPs. It is not surprising that the needs and interests of women are not reflected, both in the agenda set and the policy produced.
- Under a Liberal government, the percentage of women appointees in federal agencies reached about 37% from 2002 to 2005. Under a Conservative government, from 2006 to 2010, women appointments to federal agencies fell to 32.5%.
The Harper Government cut federal childcare spending by 37%. Harper then scrapped the national childcare program which was championed by the previous Liberal Government.
- The OECD released a 2006 report in which Canada ranked poorly in early childhood education and care compared to other developed nations. Despite this report, the Harper Government tore up agreements with the provinces and territories to build a national childcare system, agreed to by the previous Liberal Government.
- The Liberal-initiated national childcare program would have made childcare affordable and allowed women more flexibility to participate and succeed in the workforce.
- In that OECD report, Canada had the lowest public investment and service access rates, and among the highest parent fees of developed nations.
The Harper Government removed and prohibited ”gender equality” and “gender-based violence” from Canadian foreign policy language.
- It is widely held that “gender-based violence” must be recognized as a specific king of human rights abuse as it reflects the fact that “women disproportionately experience very serious and distinct forms of gender-based violence”1.
The Conservatives canceled the Court Challenges Program of Canada
- The program funded women’s groups and minority groups to challenge court rulings that violated their rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Conservatives have substantially cut funding of Status of Women Canada
- SWC was Canada’s most important body promoting gender equity through advocacy, research and lobbying.
- Harper closed 12 of 16 regional offices and cut their operating budget by 38%.
- Changes were imposed to the criteria for funding which makes it difficult for advocacy and lobbying groups to receive funding. Since many women’s NGOs combine advocacy with services such as rape crisis centers, this effectively means that these organizations can no longer operate.
The Conservatives have abolished the long-form census used by policy makers to analyze gender representation
- By putting aside the census, Harper has effectively opened the door to policy based on skewed and subjective ideology, leaving Canadians without the evidence to prove otherwise.
- We cannot make policies that adequately reflect the needs of our communities if we don’t know what our communities look like.
Canada ranks 52nd in the world for female participation in parliamentary government
- Women fill only 22.1% of seats in the House of Commons and only 34.4% in the Senate.
- We rank behind Burundi, Afghanistan, and Sudan.
Harper has launched an ideological crusade to eliminate the life-saving long-gun registry
- Statistics from the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee found firearms to be present in 47% of domestic homicides in 2007.
- 1 in 3 women killed by their husbands in Canada is shot; 88% of women shot in domestic violence are shot by a long gun.
1Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada
