Nothing has happened in Canada save the Liberals got a rude wakeup call in the last election and lost. You could argue this was more voters punishing the Liberals for taking the leadership for granted, showing signs of corruption and having repeated financial scandals running into the billions of dollars, than any sort of love for the Conservatives. Indeed, except for a few very conservative members who would barely be allowed in the Republic party, most conservatives in Canada would be democrats. Our Liberals would be viewed as something akin to European socialist.

Belinda Stronach, who was a conservative until crossed the floor to become a liberal cabinet member (this would be like a senior republican, saying part way through their term, sorry I know you elected me as a republican but I had a change of heart and besides the democrats offered me a better deal) is just using this as a campaign attack. Currently, both the Liberals and Conservatives are preparing for an election next year and have started the attacks now.

On the specific issues you highlighted, most are long standing political issues that have been argued about for decades. For example:

Childcare and early-learning plan has been studied ad nausiem by all levels of governemnt and was big issue last elections. The liberals wanted a fully funded federal program. The Conservatives wanted to stipend for parents who could then choose the child care model that best suited them. In a nutshell, the Liberal plan was unworkable, as it would have cost billions we don’t have and the Conservative plan, while workable, was a drop in the proverbial bucket. However, neither party said childcare was a bad thing nor that the Government should not look at ways to support parents.

Most of the budget cuts I have seen the Liberals complain about so far were actually campaign pork barreling by the Liberals to buy votes so that complaint may be of little substance. We still have programs aimed at ensuring equal treatment of women (although if a fellow Canuck who reads this blog knows more they may be able to shed light on specific budget cuts). My view is that the Provincial Governments’ cuts to third tear social supports such as women’s shelters has been far more harmful than anything the federal government has done.

Equal pay for equal work is the law. Indeed this is a funny topic for the Liberals to choose to fight when it was the same Liberals that spent years fighting a court decision that the Government had to obey this law and pay predominantly “female� positions the same as “male� positions.

As for providing more benefits for the self-employed, the Conservatives have traditionally been more generous with tax cuts and small business support than the Liberals. However, this may be a way of reminding people about a recent arguments on a conservative push to have income splitting (e.g., I make 100K my partner makes 20K, we each pay tax on 60K). This caused a bit of a stir in Canada and some womens groups came out against it. I am not sure why this is a bad thing, I personally know 6 couples desperately waiting for it and in every case its because the women earns substantially more than the man and they want him to stay home (but this is not a valid statistical sample). Indeed I think the issue is a bit out of date as other countries such as the US, Germany, an Italy, among other countries already to this.

All in all we are still a liberal country that looks for fair solutions and government to solve our problems. I love my country and very much support the liberal social aspects of our governance, but the looking for big government solutions some times worries me from a civil liberty and financial aspect.

it's not so much "what's gotten into canada" as "WHAT did canada put into parliament!?"

since stephen harper and his conservatives entered the chamber of commons, they've extended canada's stay in afghanistan by two years. (where, in a break from tradition, we're not acting as peacekeepers). they've cut childcare funding. they've cut essential programs like literacy. they've completely removed funding for women's advocacy (sending the message that everything's great as-is).

those of us who are aware, and who fit outside of what the conservatives seem to perceive as their sole group of constitutents (christian upper-middle-class/rich, white, english-speaking males) are livid! here's hoping that the government falls in the new year, and we can get a nice NDP/Liberal coalition going on.

it's not so much "what's gotten into canada" as "WHAT did canada put into parliament!?"

since stephen harper and his conservatives entered the chamber of commons, they've extended canada's stay in afghanistan by two years. (where, in a break from tradition, we're not acting as peacekeepers). they've cut childcare funding. they've cut essential programs like literacy. they've completely removed funding for women's advocacy (sending the message that everything's great as-is).

those of us who are aware, and who fit outside of what the conservatives seem to perceive as their sole group of constitutents (christian upper-middle-class/rich, white, english-speaking males) are livid! here's hoping that the government falls in the new year, and we can get a nice NDP/Liberal coalition going on.

"You could argue this was more voters punishing the Liberals for taking the leadership for granted, showing signs of corruption and having repeated financial scandals running into the billions of dollars, than any sort of love for the Conservatives."

That's absolutely true.

"they've extended canada's stay in afghanistan by two years."

The Conservatives didn't extend the mission, Parliament did. The motion would have failed if not for the 30 Liberals who voted for it.

It's hard for me to take some of the Liberal's complaints about the Conservatives too seriously, as they were in power for 12 years and did not come up with any solutions for the problems they are now criticizing the Conservatives for not solving.

In a nutshell, the Liberal plan was unworkable, as it would have cost billions we don’t have

Isn't Canada's budget in surplus, despite a small Conservative-backed tax cut?

While it is certainly strategic to support women's rights in Canada in order to challenge the conservative party, I hesitate to totally discount the efforts of the Liberal party based purely on politics. We have to remember that Anne McLellan, Stronach and others have faced their own (merciless) criticism based on their being female. One need only to remember McLellan's likening to Harry Potter and the infantilization that followed in order to get a good understanding that it wasn't the Liberal PARTY that was criticized but them as individuals. Yes, institutionally the Liberal party is certainly an example of the pot calling the kettle black, but individually, members of the Liberal party may have some helpful things to say about the extent of inequality for (different types of) women in Canada.

Actually, I may rescind that last statement. I have yet to read the totality of the "Pink" Book so I wonder if there is any attention paid to races, cultures, classes etc. I would be very interested in that...

Alon: What tax cut? They decreased the Governemnt Sales Tax publicly by 1%, and quietly increased tax on the lowest tax bracket (including me, a student), which results in a net increase in taxes. I was under the impression that the government puts the surplus into paying off the national debt, but I'm not sure.

Canadian conservatives are socially conservative. They were voted in as an alternative to the lying liberals. The liberals may have been stealing our money, but they weren't stealing our rights! The conservatives are currently attempting to butcher the right for gay people to marry in the near future. I'm not sure about their policies on women.

Yeah, it does, but I've looked at their debt projections, and the reduction in debt/GDP is more due to economic growth than due to debt reduction. If they want to actively pay down the debt, that's what tax hikes on the rich and reductions in defense spending are for.

The same day we talk about the Pink Book here, Harper and Oda decide to cut 5.1 million dollars of funding from Status of Women, and close 12 of 16 regional offices by April 1st, 2007. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061129.wsowc1129/BNStory/National/)
This plus bringing the same-sex marriage debate back onto the Parliamentary agenda for next week...Harper, what do you have against women?!

"This plus bringing the same-sex marriage debate back onto the Parliamentary agenda for next week"

That was a campaign promise (like reducing the gst). I like it when politicians actually do what they told us they were going to do when they get elected (even if I disagree with their platform).

Really? Like Harper's promise not to tax the income trusts for senior citizens?

I also enjoyed watching Emerson and Fortier end up in the cabinet, after all the comments made about Stronach.

It's two sides of the same corrupt coin, but the Liberals are not as openly hostile to women and immigrants (basically all minorities.) I'm a Westerner, and I will NEVER trust a "reformed" Reformer. I don't care what they promise and whether they keep those promises, or how many times they change their name. I'd sooner have Duceppe leading the country than I'd vote for one of them.

Harper, what do you have against women?

Canada, the UK, Mexico, everyone is lockstep with the US. The rest of the world should gang up and say no to Bush.