Defending the Indefensible

The pattern of the Harper government is clear now. They will only publicly discuss things that they think is palatable. Everything else will be done behind closed doors.

In the wake of yesterday's spending cuts announcements, we learn that these cuts directly affect the most vulnerable in Canada's society women, youth, first nations and illiterate adults disproportionately.

Minister Oda's attempts to defend the cuts to Status of Women Canada underscore the hostility the CPoC government holds towards those who advocate for equality, and that measure the government against those objectives.

But she made it clear that the agency's mandate and programs are under review, and how money is spent on women could be farmed out to other government departments if it's deemed more efficient.

"So if Status of Women is the agency to do this, so be it. If it's a Canadian pension plan, then maybe it should be the department that's delivering the Canadian pension plan program," Oda said.

The hint here, is that the CPoC is going to dismantle a department that is highly likely to not only be critical of their policies, but will have the studies done to back up that criticism.

Oda spelled out some of the areas that she saw as important, such as the nagging lack of women in upper management roles in Canadian business, the integration of immigrant women into Canadian society and the increasing rates of poverty among single mothers.

She also underlined concerns over violence against aboriginal women.

"The UN has identified that we could do better as a country on that issue, so now we can start doing something about it rather than having more studies tell us what we already know."

Two points here - you will never know whether you are making progress or not if you don't actually measure your efforts. This has been singularly one of the most valuable things that Status of Women Canada has done.

Second, if the government is truly concerned with the issues of poverty, integration and women in management, then why is this government taking money away from the agency whose mandate seems to be specifically to deal with and raise such issues?

If Oda's defense of these cuts seems tepid and feeble, it's because the cuts themselves are fundamentally a sop to silence the squirming mass of social and religious conservatives that are a core part of the CPoC.

Cutting funding to programs that are intended to address adult illiteracy merely demonstrates that the CPoC is more about keeping people "in their place" than giving them a helping hand to climb out of the pit they have landed in.

When the government is cutting programs that benefit citizens of Canada that are most likely to be marginalized, and in a year when we have a record surplus no less, one must conclude that the governing party's motives are something other than mere "fiscal prudence".