Election
2004 Vote for Equality - Home
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Analysis
Canadian Labour Congress releases
Gender-Equality Analysis of main party platforms
Election
2004: Women’s Equality and Party Platforms
Thursday,
June 24 2004
The Canadian Labour Congress put the three main parties’
election platform through a gender-equality screen and releases today
its conclusions.
“Equality
for women remains a critical political goal for workers and citizens
across the country, even if the debates and the headlines of this
electoral season do not seem to reflect that,” says Marie Clarke
Walker, executive vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
“This is why we have gone to the published platforms of the three
main political parties and checked what they offer.”
The Canadian Labour
Congress had produced an easy-to-read comparative chart of the positions
of the three major parties on issues of special concern to women.
For a summary
and a link to download a copy of the chart follow
this link 
(PDF file)
There are no specific
commitments to women’s equality, nor to women in general, found
in the Liberal policy platform except for their decidedly modern proposal
on child care;
There is no commitment
to women’s equality specifically, nor to women or equality rights
in Canada generally, in the Conservative policy platform. In fact,
there is a dearth of specific commitments within this platform in
relation to social policy issues in general; and
The New Democratic
Party policy platform contains two full sections that speak directly
to women’s equality issues: “Respecting Women’s Equality”
and “Respecting Equality.” Additionally, the NDP has set
out policies inclusive of women, persons with disabilities, persons
of colour, gays and lesbians, and new Canadians.
“Clearly
the New Democratic Party is the party that has given the most thought
to the issues that are facing women in the 21st century,” Marie
Clarke Walker concluded.
The easy-to-read
comparative chart entitled “Election
2004: Women’s Equality and Party Platforms”
(PDF file) can be downloaded from the Canadian Labour Congress web
site.
Source:
Michael
Francis - BetterChoice.ca
Recap
for Visual Visitors
LIBERAL
PARTY OF CANADA
There are no
specific commitments to women’s equality, nor to women in general,
found in the Liberal policy platform except for their decidedly modern
proposal on child care.
CONSERVATIVE
PARTY OF CANADA
There is no
commitment to women’s equality specifically, nor to women or
equality rights in Canada generally, in the Conservative policy platform.
In fact, there is a dearth of specific commitments within this platform
in relation to social policy issues in general.
NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF CANADA
The New Democratic
Party policy platform contains two full sections that speak directly
to women’s equality issues: “Respecting Women’s Equality”
and “Respecting Equality.” Additionally, the NDP has set
out policies inclusive of women, persons with disabilities, persons
of colour, gays and lesbians, and new Canadians.
“Clearly
the New Democratic Party is the party that has given the most thought
to the issues that are facing women in the 21st century,” Marie
Clarke Walker concluded.
The
Canadian Labour Congress
has better ideas for you to think about before you vote.
Please visit www.betterchoice.ca.
June
24, 2004
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