Read My Lips Stephane Dion: Women Are NOT Inferior

So, I understand that Stephane Dion wants to ensure that 1/3 of the Liberal candidates in the next election are women. Obviously he equates women MPs as some indicator of political equality in Canada.

This view is typically short-sighted of a Liberal. I would argue that because women have the right to vote, the right to participate in candidate selection, and the right to put their own name forward for nomination that they ARE indeed treated equal. Moreover, very little of what an MP does is gender-specific. Foreign policy, monetary policy, Inter-governmental affairs, Defense, etc. have no particular gender issues.

Jean Chretien tried this strategy in 1997. He decreed that a certain percentage of Liberal candidates were to be female (I think 25%) and he had to hand-pick candidates in some ridings to meet that goal. In doing so, he did an end-run around democracy by telling his party members in particular ridings who they needed to support. He parachuted Karen Redman in the Kitchener Centre riding and she won against a fractured Right and has won re-election ever since. But considering the incumbent advantage we CAN question if she ever deserved to be an MP in the first place. Ms. Redman may indeed deserve it but for her whole career I’ll wonder if she was the best person, well, Liberal for the job. And the fact that she was a Chretien lapdog didn’t help her credibility.

“Affirmative Action” is all around a bad idea. It IS a form of discrimination and not just against the able-bodied, heterosexual, white dude. It’s sexist in this case because it says ‘Women ARE inferior and need help to get elected’; it says ‘Women can’t compete in politics’.

I beg to differ. I don’t see that women are inferior or are at an inherent disadvantage. I don’t see that we need to prop them up. And I don’t think the electorate much cares about gender as a whole.

Case in point, I’m proud to say that in my riding Elizabeth Witmer represents me at Queen’s Park. And half of Waterloo City Council, including Mayor Brenda Halloran, is female.

Dion’s stand is insulting and cynical. He is pandering to the meek by using this non-issue to vote-grab. Anyone who votes Liberal because of this really has issues with priorities.