I had an interesting conversation with my father this weekend. We were canoing on the lake this weekend, a little father-daughter bonding. The conversation eventually turned to politics, and the upcoming election.
Dad: "You know, I don't think the conservatives have done that bad of a job so far, they seem to be doing okay."
Me: "Maybe... But you're not a woman."
I believe it's one of the few times I got my father thinking about the bigger picture of things.
I wanted to stand on my soap box (though perhaps a bit perilous in a canoe) and tell him what would happen if I was a young woman who found herself pregnant, or even an sexually transmitted infection, or if I found myself wanting advice about my own health.
I would be fucked.
As New Brunswick women, our rights at this point are now no better than the most conservative of States in the US. As a country who prides itself on being more progressive than it's southern neighbour, I find this absolutely frightening.
We no longer have access to abortions. If you are over 24 years of age, and don't have a family doctor, you have absolutely no way of getting even the most basic sexual health care. Waiting lists for doctors are months, even years long. Some women can't wait that long.
In a recent interview about the closing of New Brunswick's only Planned Parenthood and women's clinic, the government responded with "we have family doctors and walk in clinics".
This statements is absolutely false. Sure, we have
some family doctors. But like I already mentioned, the waiting lists are huge, and some doctors even refuse to prescribe birth control. In some smaller communities, many women forgo seeing their family doctor for fear of not having the anonymity they are legally supposed to have.
The government refuses to make women's healthcare a priority (Brad Green, I'm looking in your direction). The current government's priority, as it relates to healthcare, is to lower the obesity rate in New Brunswick.
That's great! Obesity accounts for a very large number of different problems. I get it.
But what's so great about being skinny if you have cervical cancer? Or an STD? Or are hemmoraging because you stuck a wire clothes hanger up your vagina?
So, ladies, please do us all a favour, and keep this in mind when you vote next week. And, in case you need someone else to tell you - please vote!
generally speaking, your dad's right.. they haven't done that bad of a job.. but they equally have not done anything to better the country.. And quite frankly, I don't think they've really had enough time to fuck things up yet. I read in my local news paper yesterday that my member of parliament "won't rest" until he sees the same sex marriage issue re-opened. This makes me very unhappy. I think all people should be allowed the right to have their union recognized by whoever they want it recognized by.. Whether it be God, the government, or a goat..
the Conservative party's agenda is just plain backwards. they didn't get my vote. :P Motherfucking Conservative party! scarier than snakes!
~Vicks
there's a roundtable debate tonight on ctv that I'm actually planning to watch. Coming to the city as a 8.5 month pregnant woman, whose child would need a doctor, I was taken in by a compassionate doctor / receptionist. I can't say that everyone would be so lucky, but here's to hoping. While most of my female friends do have doctors, most of their male counterparts do not. They don't have quite the need, in general, that we do, but they will at some point need to be looked at.
great system.
I voted! It worked! Kind of. We're still conservative in my riding, but in the big picture, we're liberal, wooh! I'm not *that* excited, because a politician's promises only hold so much weight, but I'm at least a little hopeful.
