- Poverty
How would
your party ensure that the federal government shares in the
cost of social programs such as health care and social assistance
and that it fulfills its responsibility to set our fundamental
principles by which these social programs are delivered in keeping
with Canada’s international commitments?
-
Core
Funding
Is your
party committed to full participation of women in Canada, and
if so will your party restore the core funding model to equality-seeking
women’s advocacy groups ?
-
Child
Care
Will your
party support a publicly funded, universal, high quality, inclusive,
not for profit child care system for Canada’s children
from birth to twelve years old?
Will your
party recognize that Québec is a leader in the field
of child care and make sure that Québec’s program
continues to respond to the needs of women in Québec?
Will you
commit $1 billion specifically for child care in the next federal
budget?
-
Divorce
Act on Custody and Access
Will your
party introduce amendments to the Divorce Act that will truly
protect the best interests of children, as well as the equality
and safety of all women as recommended by women’s groups
cited in the NAWL’s brief on Bill C-22. If so, how?
-
Federal
Government Structure for Status of Women
Will your
party support this 5 point plan to improve the Status of Women
in Canada?
While
Even though Canada has made significant formal international
commitments to advancing equality for women and girls the federal
government structure for fulfilling its commitments remains
weak. The minister for women’s equality is a minister of
state rather than a full cabinet minister, and the department,
Status of Women Canada, remains seriously under resourced. As
a result, international and domestic commitments are not passed
into legislation. Moreover, there is no mechanism for parliamentary
oversight, there is no one place within Parliament where the
impacts of policy on women can be considered in detail and there
is no systematic monitoring of progress. The federal government
must strengthen its status of women’s mechanism by:
1. the
enactment of a Status of Women Act to legislate the government’s
commitment to realizing equality for all women;
2. the
establishment of a Parliamentary Standing Committee on the
Status of Women to monitor implementation of the Act; In case,
they dither over the Act, it is necessary, in the short term,
to have a committee to oversee SWC
3. the
designation of a full, senior Status of Women Minister to
work with other Cabinet colleagues to bring the issue of equality
for all women in Canada to the Cabinet table from the inception
of every policy discussion;
4. the
creation of an adequately resourced Status of Women Department
headed by a full Deputy Minister to support the implementation
of the Act; and,
5. the
addition of a requirement that the Auditor General conduct
a full audit of the government’s performance on women’s
equality on an appropriate cycle.
-
Housing
Will your
party establish and implement a National Housing Plan or Strategy
to address women’s needs with respect to housing access,
retention, adequacy and affordability?
-
Maternity
How will
your party make sure that Québec receives its fair share
of EI funds dedicated to maternity and parental benefits ?
How will
your party ensure that women in the rest of Canada will be secure
in their right to maternity and parental benefits under the
Employment Insurance Act , and will it improve the Act so that
all working women have access to adequate levels of maternity
benefits and parental benefits ?
-
Pay Equity
Will your
party implement the recommendations of the federal Pay Equity
Task Force and adopt proactive pay equity legislation ?
-
Political
Representation
What has
your party done to support the nomination of women candidates
for this upcoming federal election? Having failed this time
in increasing participation of women, what will you commit to
in the next election?
Will you
and your party support the introduction of some proportional
representation into Canada’s electoral system?
-
Technology
What steps
will your party take to ensure the active participation of women
in all on-line Government of Canada activities?
-
Violence
Against Women
What government
mechanisms, national standards and policies would you put in
place to eliminate violence against women?
Would you
support a 50 million dollar federal government allocation of
funds to national equality seeking women’s groups and their
frontline of anti-violence work with women and children?
-
Immigrant
and Visible Minority Women
Does your
party have any specific plans to amend the Immigration and Refugee
Protection Act to remove those sections that discriminate against
women?
-
Aboriginal
Women
Will your
party commit to establishing stable and sufficient levels of
federal funding for Aboriginal women’s groups in Canada
so that they can be full participants with Aboriginal men and
other Canadians in the decisions that affect their lives?
What will
your party do to extend Canada's human rights legislation so
that the fundamental human rights of Aboriginal women living
on reserve are protected?
