This is why I consider myself a feminist kiddies: http://www.calgarysun.com/comment/columnists/ian_robinson/2009/10/25/11518221-sun.html
This article is one of the most regressive things about women in politics I have ever seen written. The article is obviously tounge and cheek and designed to be upsetting, but this crosses a line. I am hard-pressed to think of how one could be more sexist, borderline homophobic and still be printed in a major newspaper. Let's break it down point by point:
Could be our slogan: Come for the culture war ... stay for the chicks.
Right-wing women rock.
Not for us the sturdy, honest calves of the New Democrat/Green Party female, honed on eco-tourist rainforest hikes.
Those legs are often on unfortunate display, extending from a knee-length tweed skirt as hairy as the legs themselves, and end in a pair of Birkenstocks.
Yes, how dare women choose to dress themselves and express their own personal look and style in a way that they choose and that not all women are bikini wearing buxom blondes.
The primary reason our womenfolk are at war with the looming spectre of the nanny state is because you can't buy Jimmy Choos in a socialist paradise.
The only sensible footwear you'll find in a right-wing woman's closet are the Nike cross-trainers that go with her gym membership.
Everything else has a three-inch heel. Minimum.
Yes, the main motivation for conservative women to be involved politically is that they want to be able to buy shoes. Going back to the Birkenstocks, how dare women not wear shoes that appeal to men as opposed to actually being comfortable and functional.
Left-wing drabs recycle. Right-wing women shop -- and the government measures how much they shop every month to find out whether we're still in a recession. Basically, the world economy depends on right-wing women buying shoes.
Yes, the future world economy doesn't at all depend on women working in jobs across the world, or expanding women's rights in the developing world to make them more educated and empowered which with vastly increase the productivity of those nations. It entirely depends on women buying sparkly things.
You never hear a right-wing woman break out statistics pointing out that only 25% of elected offices in Canada are held by women, and then whining about it.
No. A right-wing woman wants to get elected, she runs for office.
If she wins, great. If she loses ... well, there's always more shoe shopping.
Yes, women shouldn't complain that they are grossly underrepresented in the political process, and lobby for change, and if she runs and loses, rather than remaing in politics and advocate for causes she believes in, she should just stick to shopping.
A right-wing woman hits the gym, swings past Sobey's and has dinner on the table by the time you get home ... while her left-wing counterpart is still stuck in traffic listening to Sarah McLachlan on her iPod and feeling morally superior about her carrot choices.
Note the use of the phrase "when you get home." Yes, of course women should do nothing but shop for shoes, hit the gym, and cook dinner for her monogamous heterosexual male partner, who comes home from work as the bread winner and undisputed head of the family.
And when that plate of food is put in front of you by the right-wing hottie you had the good sense to marry, it will be 100% tofu-free. If you're lucky, she just remembered to buy steak and forgot about the carrot entirely.
Right-wing women have traditional families, so they want to raise them themselves ... or at the very least by a nanny they've vetted, rather than abdicating that responsibility to the state.
Yes, how dare women do anything else but have monogamous heterosexual sex for the purposes of procreation, and raise the child while the head of the family is off making the money. How dare a women take a job of her own.
The article goes on, but the point has been made. As a heterosexual male, I will very proudly say that I would rather have a hairy legged, Birkenstock wearing, tofu eating, advocating for social progress woman than a steak buying, gym-going, dinner cooking, high heel wearing girl who doesn't want control of her own reproductive system.
To any of my female conservative friends, this is what your movement thinks of you.
Here is a Facebook group dedicated to letting the Sun and Robinson know how you feel: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=164703397113
Monday, October 26, 2009
Liberal candidate in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, trouble for the Tories in London-Fanshawe
http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/terracestandard/news/65912987.html
Former local mayor Sharon Hartwell was nominated as the Liberal candidate in Skeena – Bulkley Valley on October 24th. Hartwell has strong local cred (mayor for 12 years, village councillor for 6 years prior, chair of the North West Hospital District, executive in the Union of B.C. Municipalities and then with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities) and is probably a good bet to raise the Liberal vote in the riding above the 5% showing last time around.
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2009/10/24/11510791-sun.html
The Tories might have a situation on hand in London-Fanshawe, with wannabe nomination candidate Gilles Rancourt quitting the party and jumping ship to the Christian Heritage Party, saying that;
"he left a Conservative party that doesn't embrace ethnic members and cares little for grassroots... he said he has spent years wooing members of the ethnic community to the Conservatives, which he says have "no black, yellow, red or brown faces in attendance at local party events."
Former local mayor Sharon Hartwell was nominated as the Liberal candidate in Skeena – Bulkley Valley on October 24th. Hartwell has strong local cred (mayor for 12 years, village councillor for 6 years prior, chair of the North West Hospital District, executive in the Union of B.C. Municipalities and then with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities) and is probably a good bet to raise the Liberal vote in the riding above the 5% showing last time around.
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2009/10/24/11510791-sun.html
The Tories might have a situation on hand in London-Fanshawe, with wannabe nomination candidate Gilles Rancourt quitting the party and jumping ship to the Christian Heritage Party, saying that;
"he left a Conservative party that doesn't embrace ethnic members and cares little for grassroots... he said he has spent years wooing members of the ethnic community to the Conservatives, which he says have "no black, yellow, red or brown faces in attendance at local party events."
Friday, October 16, 2009
More nominations
http://www.caledonenterprise.com/editorial/article/78527
With Garth Turner out in Dufferin-Caledon, a new possible candidate has emerged for the Liberals, long-time Caledon resident Bill Prout.
http://kingscorecord.canadaeast.com/news/article/822056
I reported on David Delaney looking like he was going to be the only candidate to put his name forward for the federal Liberal nomination in Fundy Royal, and this article shows that he was in fact acclaimed back on the 30th.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=291910090444
The NDP has a whole bunch of nominations coming up, and here is some news for them in Edmonton-Leduc, with Artem Medvedev, a research assisstant at the University of Alberta declaring for the nomination.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=76694965264
Staying with the NDP and Edmonton, 2008 candidate Mike Butler will take another crack at the NDP nomination for Edmonton Millwoods – Beaumont.
With Garth Turner out in Dufferin-Caledon, a new possible candidate has emerged for the Liberals, long-time Caledon resident Bill Prout.
http://kingscorecord.canadaeast.com/news/article/822056
I reported on David Delaney looking like he was going to be the only candidate to put his name forward for the federal Liberal nomination in Fundy Royal, and this article shows that he was in fact acclaimed back on the 30th.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=291910090444
The NDP has a whole bunch of nominations coming up, and here is some news for them in Edmonton-Leduc, with Artem Medvedev, a research assisstant at the University of Alberta declaring for the nomination.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=76694965264
Staying with the NDP and Edmonton, 2008 candidate Mike Butler will take another crack at the NDP nomination for Edmonton Millwoods – Beaumont.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Two quick nomination bits
http://www.caledonenterprise.com/news/article/78311
Garth Turner won't be running for the Liberals in Dufferin-Caledon, (reasons why are conflicting) and as the article notes, it is probably a pretty safe bet 2008 candidate Rebecca Finch won't be going for the nomination again, having declared after last election that she was done with party politics, and mused about running as an independent. Rumour has it that a reason for Turner dropping out was the entry of a second candidate into the race, so we'll see who emerges.
http://www.msndp.ca/
My home riding of Mississauga South will have an NDP candidate come friday, as UTM student Farah Kalbouneh will be acclaimed as the candidate for the next election. This will be the second election running in which the NDP will run a student, with 19 year old Matt Turner carrying the NDP banner last time out.
Garth Turner won't be running for the Liberals in Dufferin-Caledon, (reasons why are conflicting) and as the article notes, it is probably a pretty safe bet 2008 candidate Rebecca Finch won't be going for the nomination again, having declared after last election that she was done with party politics, and mused about running as an independent. Rumour has it that a reason for Turner dropping out was the entry of a second candidate into the race, so we'll see who emerges.
http://www.msndp.ca/
My home riding of Mississauga South will have an NDP candidate come friday, as UTM student Farah Kalbouneh will be acclaimed as the candidate for the next election. This will be the second election running in which the NDP will run a student, with 19 year old Matt Turner carrying the NDP banner last time out.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Numbers don't lie: Tories doing pork-barrel politics in Nova Scotia and beyond
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1147364.html
It should come as no shock that the Chronicle Herald is reporting that in Nova Scotia, stimulus money is pouring overwhelmingly into Tory held ridings:
More money — $162 million — is being spent in those three Tory ridings than in Nova Scotia’s other eight ridings put together...Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s riding of Central Nova is the big winner, with $87.7 million in stimulus money, 13 times as much as the $6.6 million being spent in Dartmouth, held by a Liberal. In fact, Mr. MacKay’s riding received more money than all five Liberal ridings in the province combined...
If the $322 million in federal stimulus funding so far announced were divided evenly among Nova Scotia’s 11 federal ridings, each riding would get $29 million. Central Nova is receiving about three times that much, while Dartmouth has received only a fourth of that amount...
The metro Halifax ridings — which lacked Conservative representation at either the federal or provincial level — got the smallest amounts of money, except for Halifax, which benefited from university infrastructure spending...
And further down the line:
Two large funding commitments in Tory ridings weren’t added to the list because they were not made under the Economic Action Plan. They are $66 million in funding for CFB Greenwood, including a new recreation centre, in Conservative MP Greg Kerr’s riding of West Nova, and $12 million for a new recreation centre in Pictou County, in Mr. MacKay’s riding...
Several similar projects in opposition-held ridings have been unable to get federal money even though they, unlike the Pictou County centre, have firm funding commitments from the provincial and municipal governments.
One of the Tory talking points when confronted with objective facts that money is flowing more into Tory held ridings is that Tory ridings tend have higher unemployment, so they need more funding.
Of course, the information gathered by the Chronicle Herald and census data clash with this. According to Pundits' Gude, the riding in Nova Scotia with the highest unemployment rate is Syndey-Victoria, a Liberal held riding, yet it has collected barely 1/3rd of the money that Central Nova, the seat of cabinet minister Peter MacKay has, $33 million compared with $83 million, despite having the 8th highest unemployment rate in the country. Going down the list, the riding with the second highest unemployment rate, and thus according to the Tory talking point, the most deserving of funding, is Cape Breton-Casnio, with the 10th highest unemployment rate, yet it has, according to the Chronicle Herald, received a relatively paltry $18 million. West Nova, a Tory held riding with an unemployment rate over 4 points lower than Cape Breton-Casnio, has received $41 million.
Here are some province-wide numbers, again using Pundits' Guide:
Average unemployment rate in Liberal ridings in Nova Scotia: 10.5%
Average unemployment rate in Conservative ridings in Nova Scotia: 10.4%
So as you can see, Liberal and Conservative ridings on average have virtual the same unemployment rate. Lets compare that to the number of projects on average in Liberal vs. Tory ridings, and the amount of spending calculated by the Chronicle Herald:
Average number of projects and spending in Liberal held ridings in Nova Scotia: 18, and $16 million
Average number of projects and spending in Conservative held ridings in Nova Scotia: 38 and $54 million
This extends beyond Nova Scotia obviously. According to the Status of Infrastructure Funding Report by Gerard Kennedy, in Ontario, of 10 ridings which recieved the most funding, 6 were Tory held, and 5 of those 6 were held by either cabinet ministers of the Parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister. Indeed, Carleton-Mississipi Mills, home of cabinet minister Gordon O' Connor recieved more money than the Liberal held Mississauga East-Cooksville, despite Mississauga East-Cooksville having an unemployment rate almost twice as high. Tory arguments that Tory ridings get more funding on average because of they are larger and rural and need more money are also debunked, as the Tory held riding of Oakville, a suburban riding of 83 square km, got $10 million more than Liberal held Guelph a demographically similar riding at 92 square km. It's also worth noting that the different between Guelph's and Oakville's unemployment rate is 0.2%. Additionally, John Baird's suburban Ottawa West-Nepean district of 88 square km got almost as much spending as Guelph, despite OW-N having almost half the unemployment rate as Guelph.
The numbers don't lie: If you don't live in a blue riding, Stephen Harper just doesn't care.
It should come as no shock that the Chronicle Herald is reporting that in Nova Scotia, stimulus money is pouring overwhelmingly into Tory held ridings:
More money — $162 million — is being spent in those three Tory ridings than in Nova Scotia’s other eight ridings put together...Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s riding of Central Nova is the big winner, with $87.7 million in stimulus money, 13 times as much as the $6.6 million being spent in Dartmouth, held by a Liberal. In fact, Mr. MacKay’s riding received more money than all five Liberal ridings in the province combined...
If the $322 million in federal stimulus funding so far announced were divided evenly among Nova Scotia’s 11 federal ridings, each riding would get $29 million. Central Nova is receiving about three times that much, while Dartmouth has received only a fourth of that amount...
The metro Halifax ridings — which lacked Conservative representation at either the federal or provincial level — got the smallest amounts of money, except for Halifax, which benefited from university infrastructure spending...
And further down the line:
Two large funding commitments in Tory ridings weren’t added to the list because they were not made under the Economic Action Plan. They are $66 million in funding for CFB Greenwood, including a new recreation centre, in Conservative MP Greg Kerr’s riding of West Nova, and $12 million for a new recreation centre in Pictou County, in Mr. MacKay’s riding...
Several similar projects in opposition-held ridings have been unable to get federal money even though they, unlike the Pictou County centre, have firm funding commitments from the provincial and municipal governments.
One of the Tory talking points when confronted with objective facts that money is flowing more into Tory held ridings is that Tory ridings tend have higher unemployment, so they need more funding.
Of course, the information gathered by the Chronicle Herald and census data clash with this. According to Pundits' Gude, the riding in Nova Scotia with the highest unemployment rate is Syndey-Victoria, a Liberal held riding, yet it has collected barely 1/3rd of the money that Central Nova, the seat of cabinet minister Peter MacKay has, $33 million compared with $83 million, despite having the 8th highest unemployment rate in the country. Going down the list, the riding with the second highest unemployment rate, and thus according to the Tory talking point, the most deserving of funding, is Cape Breton-Casnio, with the 10th highest unemployment rate, yet it has, according to the Chronicle Herald, received a relatively paltry $18 million. West Nova, a Tory held riding with an unemployment rate over 4 points lower than Cape Breton-Casnio, has received $41 million.
Here are some province-wide numbers, again using Pundits' Guide:
Average unemployment rate in Liberal ridings in Nova Scotia: 10.5%
Average unemployment rate in Conservative ridings in Nova Scotia: 10.4%
So as you can see, Liberal and Conservative ridings on average have virtual the same unemployment rate. Lets compare that to the number of projects on average in Liberal vs. Tory ridings, and the amount of spending calculated by the Chronicle Herald:
Average number of projects and spending in Liberal held ridings in Nova Scotia: 18, and $16 million
Average number of projects and spending in Conservative held ridings in Nova Scotia: 38 and $54 million
This extends beyond Nova Scotia obviously. According to the Status of Infrastructure Funding Report by Gerard Kennedy, in Ontario, of 10 ridings which recieved the most funding, 6 were Tory held, and 5 of those 6 were held by either cabinet ministers of the Parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister. Indeed, Carleton-Mississipi Mills, home of cabinet minister Gordon O' Connor recieved more money than the Liberal held Mississauga East-Cooksville, despite Mississauga East-Cooksville having an unemployment rate almost twice as high. Tory arguments that Tory ridings get more funding on average because of they are larger and rural and need more money are also debunked, as the Tory held riding of Oakville, a suburban riding of 83 square km, got $10 million more than Liberal held Guelph a demographically similar riding at 92 square km. It's also worth noting that the different between Guelph's and Oakville's unemployment rate is 0.2%. Additionally, John Baird's suburban Ottawa West-Nepean district of 88 square km got almost as much spending as Guelph, despite OW-N having almost half the unemployment rate as Guelph.
The numbers don't lie: If you don't live in a blue riding, Stephen Harper just doesn't care.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Turkey time nominations
http://www2.canada.com/burnabynow/news/story.html?id=1d358a67-b2e6-48ee-a804-264f315a7bfc
Former Tory MP Paul Forseth, who represented New Westminster-Burnaby/New Westminster-Coquitlam from 1993-2006, is back in politics after missing a chance at being the Tory candidate for the NWC by-election. Forseth was acclaimed for the Tory nomination for the next door riding of Burnaby-New Westminster on the 3rd. The riding saw 3-way fights in 2004 and 2006, like many ridings lower mainland, with the NDP's Peter Julian winning in 2004 very narrowly over the Liberals Mary Pynenburg, who also ran in 2006. The 2008 election saw the Liberal vote slip mostly to the advantage of the NDP and Green's.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/castlegarnews/news/63645192.html
More for the Tories in BC, with 3 candidates going after the nomination the BC Southern Interior, another NDP held seat. Meagan Salekin, 2008 candidate Rob Zandee, and Stephen Hill are the candidates, with voting ending on the 14th.
Former Tory MP Paul Forseth, who represented New Westminster-Burnaby/New Westminster-Coquitlam from 1993-2006, is back in politics after missing a chance at being the Tory candidate for the NWC by-election. Forseth was acclaimed for the Tory nomination for the next door riding of Burnaby-New Westminster on the 3rd. The riding saw 3-way fights in 2004 and 2006, like many ridings lower mainland, with the NDP's Peter Julian winning in 2004 very narrowly over the Liberals Mary Pynenburg, who also ran in 2006. The 2008 election saw the Liberal vote slip mostly to the advantage of the NDP and Green's.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/castlegarnews/news/63645192.html
More for the Tories in BC, with 3 candidates going after the nomination the BC Southern Interior, another NDP held seat. Meagan Salekin, 2008 candidate Rob Zandee, and Stephen Hill are the candidates, with voting ending on the 14th.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
National Post calls for the legalization of sex work
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=2073540
Many bloggers have written about the need for the Liberals to "get smart" on crime as opposed to the Tories populist but tax dollar wasting and ineffective polices on crime. The decriminalization of sex work (as opposed to legalization, which would treat sex work as a vice to be regulated, and not simply work) would be a good start. As others have said, simply parroting the Tories on crime does no benefit to the Liberals, both practically and politically, as all it results in is bad policies becoming law, and it doesn't help us politically, as the Tories will still drone on on how the Liberals are soft on crime, and voters won't support the Liberals over the Tories for supporting Tory policies.
The Liberals need to develop some policy backbone on social issues, and not be afraid to fight to Tories on the crime issue. The greatest advantage of having Ignatieff as leader is that we have a leader who has a grasp of complex issues, and has an international perspective. The decriminalization of sex work is a policy that would play to these needs and advantages. Ignatieff can rightly say that countries which have decriminalized sex work have seen a drop in violence and crime against sex workers, and by freeing up our hardworking law enforcement officials from simply being a morality squad, they can focus on real crimes and real criminals, similarly to arguments in favour of the decriminalization of marijuana (which is another issue the Liberals need to be more vocal on). Canadians will always associate the Conservatives with being "tough on crime", so we need to sell something different from the Conservatives, get some clear blue water between us on the Conservatives on social policy issues. Calling for the decriminalization of sex work, marijuana, and voting against the proposed random DUI tests would be a good start.
Many bloggers have written about the need for the Liberals to "get smart" on crime as opposed to the Tories populist but tax dollar wasting and ineffective polices on crime. The decriminalization of sex work (as opposed to legalization, which would treat sex work as a vice to be regulated, and not simply work) would be a good start. As others have said, simply parroting the Tories on crime does no benefit to the Liberals, both practically and politically, as all it results in is bad policies becoming law, and it doesn't help us politically, as the Tories will still drone on on how the Liberals are soft on crime, and voters won't support the Liberals over the Tories for supporting Tory policies.
The Liberals need to develop some policy backbone on social issues, and not be afraid to fight to Tories on the crime issue. The greatest advantage of having Ignatieff as leader is that we have a leader who has a grasp of complex issues, and has an international perspective. The decriminalization of sex work is a policy that would play to these needs and advantages. Ignatieff can rightly say that countries which have decriminalized sex work have seen a drop in violence and crime against sex workers, and by freeing up our hardworking law enforcement officials from simply being a morality squad, they can focus on real crimes and real criminals, similarly to arguments in favour of the decriminalization of marijuana (which is another issue the Liberals need to be more vocal on). Canadians will always associate the Conservatives with being "tough on crime", so we need to sell something different from the Conservatives, get some clear blue water between us on the Conservatives on social policy issues. Calling for the decriminalization of sex work, marijuana, and voting against the proposed random DUI tests would be a good start.
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