Women, go find another guy - Harper is no friend to women (3)

Being a friend to women is a long term commitment, not just an election fuelled booty call, like some desperate drunk dial in the middle of the night.

Mr. Harper is the kind of guy we warn our friends and daughters about. You know him. He's the self-involved, entitled guy who cleans up okay and treats women decently enough while dating, but as soon as we let him move in, he becomes a slob on the couch, won't lift a finger to help around the house, and still expects dinner and sex.

The worst part is, we know this guy. We've already dated him. He's a loser. He's proven time and time again that he doesn't care about us, that he'll ditch our interests for his own every single time and then blame us when it happens. After the battering women have taken, after everything this guy has done to shut us up, we're supposed to believe that he will change.

All I can say is, this is unlikely. All we've got so far is a promise to income split, a promise that won't help many families and is a not-so-subtle way to use the tax system to reinforce a mythical vision of family from Father Knows Best. (See this article in the Globe and Mail on why income splitting won't help.)

If they really wanted to help women, the Conservatives and Harper would not infringe on our reproductive rights. They would respect reproductive rights as human rights. They would make certain New Brunswick complied with the rest of the country on abortion provision and would not allow the New Brunswick provincial government to violate the Charter rights of New Brunswick women. They would ensure that access is available throughout the country, in all provinces, including rural areas and in the north. They would create policy that assisted families regardless of whether they are two parent, single parent, single sex or something else, both working or one working, and those who can't work at all. They would know that children are poor when their families are poor, and tackle the social inequalities that create poverty. They would reinstate funding to Status of Women Canada, even increase it and strengthen their ability to influence policy that affects women. Then they would reinstate the Court Challenges Program and all other funding they have taken away from progressive groups they have tried to bury. They would reinstate the Long Form Census so that they had accurate social indicators on which to base policy. They would base policy on what is real, not on conservative fantasies or on some crime bogey man that they use to keep women and everyone else in a state of perpetual fear.

Women, go find another guy, maybe even look for a woman. You deserve better.