March 8, 2006

Political money crunch

By Simon Cheung
scheun23@uwo.ca

Irene Mathyssen knows what it's like to be poor on London's east side.

Mathyssen, the NDP MP for London-Fanshawe, said she grew up in an impoverished family situation where employment was unstable. They had food, she said, but few frills.

"I can identify (with) and understand how women without resources must be feeling," said Mathyssen, who is now the shadow cabinet minister for Status of Women Canada.

She said she used none of the $5,000 limit set by the NDP for her riding nomination campaign, instead relying on a grassroots movement. Mathyssen noted that many political hopefuls - especially female ones - do not have the same connections.

Photo by Simon Cheung

London-Fanshawe MP Irene Mathyssen, the new NDP shadow cabinet minister for housing and status of women, in her constituency office.

As a result, she said, many women are kept out of politics.

"Men have access to more financial resources," Mathyssen said.

Maria Minna, the Liberal MP for Beaches-East York, said the long hours and commitment required to run for public office often dissuade women with families from political careers. She added that professional women are often discouraged from giving up on their accomplishments in the corporate world as well.

"It's a very all-consuming and very high-risk career," said Minna, who is the Liberal shadow cabinet minister for Status of Women Canada.

"The nomination process is extremely difficult. You need a lot of money to run for nomination and it's a bloodbath. It's a bloodsport, really."

Minna said, however, that it doesn't have to be that way. She said nominations could be run through Elections Canada, with rules, procedures and controls to make the process more accessible for everybody.

"Until we get a critical mass of women," Minna said, "we won't see any of these changes."

Caroline Andrew, a politics professor at the University of Ottawa, said regulating the nomination process would help the situation for women, but added that it would be difficult to set a uniform Canadian standard.

"It's extraordinarily hard to control," she said, "because it's not a public function. It's a political party function."

Many women enter the political realm through volunteer organizations, Andrew said, which aren't as lucrative as the private corporate institutions through which many men enter politics.

"Money still plays an enormous role," she said.

Mathyssen said the 21 per cent of Parliament members who are women is simply not enough, and that affirmative action policies must be established to encourage women to run in ridings where they stand a chance of winning.

"Fifty-two per cent of Canada's population is female," she said. "We need that representation."

Pay equity, fertility rights, maternity benefits and women's equity group funding are some of the major issues that Status of Women Canada will be dealing with when Parliament reconvenes on April 3, Mathyssen said. As well, a new committee initiated by the NDP in the last Parliament will be doing a gender-based analysis of Canadian laws, looking for systemic inequity in government.

In Ottawa, Andrew said that party ties in Canadian politics are far more prevalent than gender ties. She said though women MPs have voted together on certain issues before, it is a rare occurrence.

"I don't expect there's going to be a coalition of female MPs talking about anything, especially in this very minority government," she said.

"It's clear that social policy is not their priority."

Status of Women in Canada Minister Bev Oda was unavailable for comment.

Mathyssen said her London-Fanshawe constituents are primarily concerned with health care, education and housing, which all affect women and families.

"It's all a part of what makes a strong family," she said. "As soon as you make someone vulnerable economically, then there is a real problem."