The Canadian Election – What’s At Stake

Another election is coming up in Canada. As things stand, the Conservatives are in a position to win a majority in Parliament. We cannot let that happen.

The Harper Conservatives are without a doubt the worst party we have on women’s rights. They’ve tried to introduce legislation that would create a legal basis for recognizing fetal personhood. They closed 12 out of 16 of the regional offices of Status of Women Canada, cut the funding of those that were left, took the word “equality” out of the agency’s mandate, and prohibited funding to women’s groups for advocacy and law reform. They killed national daycare. They refuse to take any action to ensure pay equity. They shut down the Court Challenges Program, which was instrumental in many of the legal victories for women’s rights since the introduction of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. One of the first things the Harper Conservatives did when they were elected was to attempt to overturn same-sex marriage. Harper recently used the Conservative majority in the Senate to block a bill ensuring federal protection of trans rights.

This is what they’ve done with a minority government. Imagine what they’ll accomplish with an unchecked majority.

There are many more reasons why the  Harper Conservatives are horrible.

I would like to press my fellow Canadians to be more active in this election than you have ever been before. Volunteer with your local non-Conservative candidates. Write letters to your local newspaper. Just take a couple of hours to put up posters around your riding. Engage with and challenge the people around you.

Get everyone you know to vote. In the last election, many ridings were won or lost by only a few hundred votes. The Liberals won Vancouver South by only 20 votes. The Conservatives won Kitchener-Waterloo by only 17 votes. And these are not small ridings. Your vote, and the votes of anyone that you can bring to the polls with you, matter.