Sharing The Keys to Power.............Stephane Dion is !

IWD International Womens Day

Today is a good time to provide some information to all women Liberals who think they are ready to use the keys to Power.
The NWLC and all the affiliates across the country have renewed their efforts to encourage the participation of women in the LPC.

Herefollows a recent email sent to the women in BC which is a good starting point.It is worthy of sharing with the readers of this blog.

e-News from BC Women's Liberal Commission
March 8, International Women's Day
National

Liberal Women's Caucus

Liberal Women's
Top Ten Ways the Harper Government has Failed Women


1
Removed "equality" as the main goal of the Women's Program at Status of Women Canada;

2
Cut $5 million, or 43 per cent, from the operating budget of Status of Women Canada;

3
Changed the rules of the Women's Program to eliminate equality-seeking organizations from qualifying for funding;

4
Changed rules of the Women's Program to prevent groups from advocating on behalf of women;

5
Changed the rules of the Women's Program to allow funding for for-profit groups. The struggle for women's equality is not a money-making venture but a grassroots effort of committed activists;

6
Gutted the research and policy capacity of Status of Women Canada, which will deprive groups of valuable information for use in public education products, government briefs, and for the development of public policy;

7
Closed 12 of 16 regional Status of Women Canada offices, which will eliminate the connection between the federal government and women in their communities;

8
Eliminated the Court Challenges Program and disbanded the Law Commission, handicapping the ability of women, particularly Aboriginal and minority women, from defending their human rights;

9
Eliminated $17.7 million from literacy programs, making it even more difficult for women to gain the skills they need to make a better life for themselves; and

10
Eliminated the Liberal child care agreements and replaced them with $20 a week and no new child care spaces, in spite of the fact that almost 71% of mothers with children under the age of six are in the labour force.


Thanks to Sean Holman at PublicEyeOnline I have perused this website www.equalvoice.ca where you will find a link to Online Campaign School " Getting to the Gate".

There was a time when the BCWLC ( late 70's early 80's) ran annual workshops at the AGM,s designed to encourage women Candidates in every aspect of a campaign from nominations through to the reality of (role playing) door to door canvass.It is the personal contact that gets the vote.

By the early 1990's there was a group of women (triparty) who held annual "Winning Women Campaign" workshops, bringing in the professional Communications people and really assisting women at the Municipal level, noteably more and more women have been successful at both the Municipal and Provincial levels. That is a good thing.

What really needs to happen and it is confirmed on the www.equalvoice.ca website is the need for federal political party's to nominate more women candidates. Getting to the Gate sounds great, but.... you still need the key to get inside.

The Liberal party has it's challenges as do the other political party's because we do not want to see the headlines that "Men need not apply".