1) Closing 12 of 16 offices
2) Cutting funding by 38%
3) Eliminating "equality"
4) Banning research and advocacy

Status of Women Canada (SWC), the program devoted to improving the condition of women in this country is dropping the word “equality�? from its mandate. SWC has changed its statement of purpose to reflect, in the view of one critic, the “conservative ideology, […] that systemic discrimination [against women] doesn't exist.�?

......What’s more, Bev Oda, the minister for the Status of Women announced on October 3 that organizations would no longer be eligible for funding for advocacy, government lobbying, or research projects, as part of new terms and conditions for SWC grants. SWC has a grant fund of $11 million.

......This follows an announcement, made the previous week, that http://dawn.thot.net/fafia8.html > the government is reducing SWC’s $13-million operational budget by $5 million over two years. “Canadian women know the value of a dollar. They know what good use of hard-earned money means,�? Oda said http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2006/09/21/1873873-cp.html >to justify the cuts to the program.

......A website launched yesterday to rally support for SWC urges visitors to the site to lobby the federal government to revisit the changes it recently made to the SWC's funding and objectives.

AND NOW:

The Harper government announced the pillaging of Status of Women Canada would continue with the closure of 12 of SWC's 16 offices by April 1.

A BLOGGER NOTES:

It's being targeted for purely ideological reasons as the result of lobbying by anti-woman special interest groups, specifically "REAL"women, who want it shut down for the simple reason that it is pro-choice, pro-feminist

SEE ALSO:

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/politics-stephen-harper-and-the-t... > The Walrus Magazine: Stephen Harper and the Theo-cons

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