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ThroneSpeech_2010
THRONE SPEECH March 2010
March 4, 2010
The speech entitled "A Strong Canada, a Strong Economy, Now and
in the Future," assured Canadians that the government will continue
to support health care, education and public pensions. The
Government plans to dispense $19-billion in rescue money as part of
the Government's economic action plan. The stimulus spending will
continue for another year. The gender-inequitable receipt of these
basic Government provisions was not discussed. Absent too was a
justification for the two-month suspension of Parliament.
The March 2010 Throne Speech from the Government of Canada,
offers no substantive gains for women, families and Aboriginal
people. It does promise to examine "having gender neutral
wording" in the national anthem. However, women need full
citizenship through equal rights with men especially in the
pocket-book.
The Throne Speech tells us that the Government "shares and
supports the aspirations of families" in balancing work and family
life. The Government's "affirmation of this commitment" was the
$100.00 baby bonus. There was a suggestion that single parent
families might be the particular beneficiaries of the $100 a month
bonus.
The fate of the missing and murdered Aboriginal women was
mentioned but there has been no commitment to a national inquiry
into 520 missing and murdered Aboriginal women. Instead, the
Government through the Throne Speech reiterated it had a "Sisters
in Spirit program" which started in 2008.
The Throne Speech described the gun registry as "wasteful and
ineffective." Plans to dismantle this will press ahead even
though repealing the registry would destroy the eight million
firearm records accessed by the police on a daily basis. CFUW
supports gun control and a gun registry as one tool to protect
women from violence in relationships.
The Throne Speech offers little hope that it will issue in
programs that will lift women from their second class economic
status in Canada. If recalibration has occurred, it was not
apparent in this speech.
Canadian Federation of University Women, Ottawa, Ontario
613 234 8252
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