March 30 - SWC Closures and Child Care

The members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) who spent International Women’s Day in Status of Women Minister Bev Oda’s constituency office say it was a day well spent. “We felt she needed to hear first hand how the Harper government is failing women.”

On Status of Women Closures

Minister Bev Oda announced cost-cutting measures last November that meant that 12 out of the 16 Status of Women regional offices would be slated for closure permanently on March 30, 2007.

The Status of Women Canada's regional presence will be limited to four “points of service”: Edmonton , Ottawa (at Headquarters), Montréal and Moncton.

Women's organizations, labour women and community activists will be organizing March protests on these closures of Status of Women Canada regional offices in the following cities:

Vancouver
Saskatoon
Winnipeg
Thunder Bay
Toronto
Hamilton
London
Ottawa
Ste-Foy
Halifax
Charlottetown
St. John's

On Child Care:

Women have been struggling for decades to achieve universal, affordable, quality child care.

The minority Conservative government has abandoned its much-maligned plan to rely heavily on businesses to create 125,000 new child-care spaces over five years. The government's change of course will be outlined Monday in the federal budget.

Code Blue is stepping up its campaign leading up to the next federal election with the launch of a cross-country child care tour starting in mid-April.

LINK: Photo credit - PSAC Ontario
LINK: Two Minute Action on Closures
LINK: Two Minute Action on Child Care
LINK: "Put Equality Back On Track" March 2007 events