Dion woos women's vote with plan for gender parity in Parliament

[Guest Warwick Green]

He should get support from Bob Rae. While he was Premier of Ontario he proposed that half the places in the Senate should be reserved for women.

How long before other groups demand minimums?

OTTAWA (CP) - Stephane Dion has unveiled a 10-point plan for eventually reaching gender parity in Canada's Parliament, starting with a vow to ensure at least one-third of Liberal candidates in the next election are women if he becomes the party's new leader.

"We cannot afford to lose any talent," the sole Quebec leadership candidate told a news conference Wednesday. "And if there are barriers against one sex, we should do our best to find a way to put those barriers down and to have the full talent of all the women of Canada available, including in politics."...

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national...711fe97&k=45435

[Big Blue Machine]

But then again, you could be filling ridings up with incompetent candidates because of these gender parity rules.

[Charles Anthony]

We should dump the sex war thing and choose a different demographic.

There is probably too much discrimination against short people. We should make sure there are 50% short people and 50% tall people in the House of Commons.

Wait a minute..... maybe we should make it 50%+1 in favor of short people....

[geoffrey]

So true. More sexism against men, it's becoming so perverse that being a white male is actually a major disadvantage. When I was looking for a new job after leaving the business, I tended to apply for jobs with companies that didn't outright say they were an equal opportunity employer.

We all know what that means now. If your white, or male, you need not apply. There will be a minority to fill your spot.

Thankfully I got on with a great ethnically diverse company that reached that diversity not through affirmative action but by simply hiring the best people that applied for each position!

[jbg]

It's time people stop considering what "group" they're in and vote/choose/employ on the basis of merit. For Christ's sake, I'm not demanding Jewish parity on basketball teams. And basketball players make some serious money.

[RB]

OTTAWA (CP) - Stephane Dion has unveiled a 10-point plan for eventually reaching gender parity in Canada's Parliament, starting with a vow to ensure at least one-third of Liberal candidates in the next election are women if he becomes the party's new leader.

"We cannot afford to lose any talent," the sole Quebec leadership candidate told a news conference Wednesday. "And if there are barriers against one sex, we should do our best to find a way to put those barriers down and to have the full talent of all the women of Canada available, including in politics."...

I agree that more women should access the parliament and in high numbers, women out number men:women ratio at 45:55 and yet women barely exist as voices in politics.

We cannot continue to allow men to make all decisions for woman, something is not right we are the majority of the population.

[southerncomfort]

Sheez guess we throw out democracy and appoint people based on race and sex. NOT

[geoffrey]

OTTAWA (CP) - Stephane Dion has unveiled a 10-point plan for eventually reaching gender parity in Canada's Parliament, starting with a vow to ensure at least one-third of Liberal candidates in the next election are women if he becomes the party's new leader.

"We cannot afford to lose any talent," the sole Quebec leadership candidate told a news conference Wednesday. "And if there are barriers against one sex, we should do our best to find a way to put those barriers down and to have the full talent of all the women of Canada available, including in politics."...

I agree that more women should access the parliament and in high numbers, women out number men:women ratio at 45:55 and yet women barely exist as voices in politics.

We cannot continue to allow men to make all decisions for woman, something is not right we are the majority of the population.

Have you run for office and noticed the system is horribled biased against women? Do you have any explaination why women aren't more represented in the HoC other than they don't run? Do voters not like to elect them?

Because last time I checked, everyone can run, everyone can win. Depends on how bad you want it. And since men are more involved in politics than women (sheer numbers of candidates seeking election, check it out yourself if you believe there is some conspiracy here) more of them will be elected.

Have you noticed more men run for office than women, who can really be blamed for the disparity?

No one has an obligation to boost up any group. Earn it on merit, sexism is merely a ploy to create further employment equity programs. Everyone has an equal chance... if they want it.

[Guest Warwick Green]

We know that women can be elected in countries faced with loads of problems - Ghandi, Meir - and can make tough decisions - Thatcher. We have recently seen women elected to the top political job in South America and in Germany. Canada even had a female PM - who couldn't win an election, partially because of her abrasive style, partly because because of her association with Mulroney. The NDP had two female leaders, neither of whom amounted to much.

So women can win - in the right set of circumstances - and be successful. But I look at the current bunch within the Libs and Cons and I don't see any royal jelly.

[geoffrey]

Rona Ambrose would be a viable candidate, well spoken, attractive, and a more progressive for the right side of the House. Can she speak solid French?

Other than that, not much out there.

[Guest Warwick Green]

Rona Ambrose would be a viable candidate, well spoken, attractive, and a more progressive for the right side of the House. Can she speak solid French?

Other than that, not much out there.

For me the jury's out on Rona. Of course she was given a real crap job - environment minister in a party that doesn't give a rat's ass about the issue.

[RB]

No one has an obligation to boost up any group. Earn it on merit, sexism is merely a ploy to create further employment equity programs. Everyone has an equal chance... if they want it.

This is of course BS.

Women would like to enter into politics by the numbers. There is something standing in their way and is called the boys club.

Women don't bother with the equal chance theory because their chances are slim and the equal has a favorite side.

The merit - even when you put the man and woman to equivalent jobs and the women is more qualified, and performance is more they are not rewarded as handsomely as the men.

I mean why do you think women are on the list of disadvantage groups, hint its not because they aren't capable

[geoffrey]

No one has an obligation to boost up any group. Earn it on merit, sexism is merely a ploy to create further employment equity programs. Everyone has an equal chance... if they want it.

This is of course BS.

Women would like to enter into politics by the numbers. There is something standing in their way and is called the boys club.

Women don't bother with the equal chance theory because their chances are slim and the equal has a favorite side.

The merit - even when you put the man and woman to equivalent jobs and the women is more qualified, and performance is more they are not rewarded as handsomely as the men.

I mean why do you think women are on the list of disadvantage groups, hint its not because they aren't capable

That is just completely full of non-sense.

Why would a company pay woman less because she's a woman? If she performed equally, she'd get equal pay. Otherwise, another company would pay more for her services. It makes absolutely no sense for a manager to hire an underqualified person for a position, it doesn't benefit him/her in any way.

You can enter politics tomorrow if you wanted to. Anyone can. The Boy's Club is merely an excuse for more programs that have women surpassing men in all fields due to reverse discrimination. Have you look at university numbers lately? When are you going to starting crying foul that men are under represented in university, and that we should have policies that encourage more men into post-secondary because of the rule of the women in professional occupations? Ha. I doubt if I'll ever here it from the likes of the feminist movement.

It won't happen. It's a big inferiority complex that seems to only be satisfied with additional pro-women programs and ridiculous concepts like this proposal. Women have equal opportunity in Canada if they want it. Become the best at what you do and you'll make the best wage, companies don't give a rats ass what gender you are if you do a good job.

It's not about equality of opportunity anymore, it's about power for the feminist groups.

[Drea]

It's a big inferiority complex that seems to only be satisfied with additional pro-women programs

Yup, women, even in this day and age after all the strides that we've made are still living with men who truly believe they are inferior. One co-worker of mine does. He figures women should be at home raising children.

Until there are no men out there that think in this antiquated manner, we will have the need for pro-women programs.

After all we as a society have been programmed for thousands of years that women are chattel etc. This type of thinking is still pervasive and will not be eradicated in 2 or 3 generations.

It's not about equality of opportunity anymore, it's about power for the feminist groups.

Although in another thread I said the feminist movement is finished -- its not, and that is because of men like you Geoffrey, who believe all women's groups are feminazi lesbians who hate men.

That being said the next premier of BC will be a woman.

[jbg]

It's a big inferiority complex that seems to only be satisfied with additional pro-women programs

Yup, women, even in this day and age after all the strides that we've made are still living with men who truly believe they are inferior. One co-worker of mine does. He figures women should be at home raising children.

Until there are no men out there that think in this antiquated manner, we will have the need for pro-women programs.

After all we as a society have been programmed for thousands of years that women are chattel etc. This type of thinking is still pervasive and will not be eradicated in 2 or 3 generations.

It's not about equality of opportunity anymore, it's about power for the feminist groups.

Although in another thread I said the feminist movement is finished -- its not, and that is because of men like you Geoffrey, who believe all women's groups are feminazi lesbians who hate men.

That being said the next premier of BC will be a woman.

Far from it.

However, I work in a law firm that is now five females, four males. It has, frankly, become a junior "human rights" commission where complaints of creation of "hostile work environment" have seriously interfered wtih my ability to get my job done.

Christ, someone accused me of this site being of prurient interest, and inappropriate for the work place.

[mcqueen625]

OTTAWA (CP) - Stephane Dion has unveiled a 10-point plan for eventually reaching gender parity in Canada's Parliament, starting with a vow to ensure at least one-third of Liberal candidates in the next election are women if he becomes the party's new leader.

"We cannot afford to lose any talent," the sole Quebec leadership candidate told a news conference Wednesday. "And if there are barriers against one sex, we should do our best to find a way to put those barriers down and to have the full talent of all the women of Canada available, including in politics."...

I agree that more women should access the parliament and in high numbers, women out number men:women ratio at 45:55 and yet women barely exist as voices in politics.

We cannot continue to allow men to make all decisions for woman, something is not right we are the majority of the population.

Who cares?? If the bimbo Belinda Stronach and loud-mouth Carolyn Parrish are examples of the kinds of women the separist Stephene Dion wants to have in Parliament then thanks, but no thanks. Between those two they have exactly two clues, the first is lost and the other went looking for it. I vote for the person who best represents my own thoughts on what I want my Canada to be, I do not look at gender. Then again I think we have far too many lawyers entering politics, that to me is what is wrong with this country, too many lawyers screwing things up for the rest of us, and dictating what is best for us.