By bringing back abortion issue, government risks rankling Liberal MPs
MONTREAL—Depending on how one looks at it, former prime minister Kim Campbell is either the last federal minister to have tried to recriminalize abortion in Canada or the first to have conceded that the federal government had to leave women free to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term. As Brian Mulroney’s attorney general, […]
Amid death threats and hate over her anti-Islamophobia motion, Liberal MP Khalid takes the high road
PARLIAMENT HILL—When rookie Liberal MP Iqra Khalid tabled her private member’s motion, M-103, last December, she said she was looking to start a conversation about systemic racism and religious discrimination in Canada. But before it even came up for debate in Parliament, she got a first-hand look at the darkest side of the issue. Since […]
Canada’s leadership on sexual and reproductive health must be matched by healthy development budget
On International Women’s Day, Prime Minister Trudeau made an important pledge towards supporting a key set of rights that so often go neglected—sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Yesterday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, alongside Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced that the government would be committing $650-million in funding over three […]
Can Geert Wilders win the Dutch election à la Trump?
LONDON, U.K.—The Dutch political system may not have been deliberately designed to produce middle-of-the-road outcomes, but it certainly works that way in practice: many small parties, multi-party coalitions, and perpetual compromise. It is almost impossible to radicalize a system like this, but Geert Wilders is going to try. Wilders is the founder and leader of […]
Senate staff diversity under a microscope
The Senate is taking a fresh look at how women and minority groups are represented in its staff. A subcommittee of four Senators launched a study on diversity in the Senate staff last week, a couple of months after a report on that subject was tabled by the Senate administration. The Senate bureaucracy is also planning to […]
Canadian politics might be drastically different if there were more women involved
International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate the achievements of women. It’s a day to acknowledge the hard work and extra bit of persistence it takes to be a successful woman in today’s world. But it’s also a day to take a long look at the to-do list of gender equality, and realize there’s […]
Poverty is sexist: what Canada can do this Women’s Day to fight it
Globally, 130 million girls are denied the basic right to education, meaning 130 million missed opportunities for girls to reach their full potential and help their communities and countries grow. Before launching a career in television, I was an electrical engineer and still have a passion for math, science (and weather patterns, of course). I’m […]
It could take 20 election cycles, ‘or 90 years,’ before House reaches gender parity, says Equal Voice
PARLIAMENT HILL—At the current rate of change, it could take 20 election cycles before women reach gender parity in the House, Equal Voice Canada is predicting, according to new data that reveals one-quarter of Canadians think gender parity in the Commons will never be achieved. Equal Voice and Abacus Data released new, nationwide survey data on Monday that […]
Parliament Hill will be overrun by women this week
OTTAWA—This week, Parliament Hill will be overrun by women. Normally, that is not so unusual, as the majority of political and bureaucratic support staffers are women. But this time, 338 young women will be taking seats in the House of Commons. Daughters of the Vote, a major national gathering spearheaded by the multi-partisan Equal Voice, […]
Conservatives risk losing their war to win a battle
There are no doubt many bread-and-butter Conservative voters who care little about the rhetoric flying back and forth over Liberal MP Iqra Khalid’s Motion 103, denouncing Islamophobia. Lower taxes, smaller government, a strong criminal justice system—those are ballot-box issues for many of the party’s core voters. But they should care about the debate around M-103, for […]
