What Our Media Doesn't Understand About Feminism Makes Rona Ambrose Look Enlightened

During last weekend's Conservative Party convention, interim leader Rona Ambrose suggested that Justin Trudeau was not our first "female" Prime Minister, but that that distinction went to Kim Campbell.

It was met with a round of applause, resonating with the conservative crowd, but not so much with the Canadian public, who saw it as just another opposition cheap shot, born of envy.

She would later deny she said it, or claim that her comment was misinterpreted, but we've seen the video.  There's no backing out now.

However, her closing remark is even more telling.  "So who's the feminist now!?"  Certainly not Rona Ambrose, because you don't have to be a female to be a feminist, any more than you have to be a feminist to be female.  Today, it's about a state of mind.

In fact, for the new generation of millennials, it's more about sexism in general, not just women's rights, which they already enjoy.  Income inequality is still an issue, but they will find the solution, and they will do it because it just makes sense.

Looking at the U.S. Primaries, when the country seems poised to elect their first woman president, it should not be such a shock to anyone that the majority of young women plan to vote for Bernie Sanders, rather than Hillary Clinton. They don't care about gender, but that Sanders has a better understanding of the problems that impact their lives, while Clinton represents "the establishment.”

In Ambrose's speech, she lauded previous women Conservative trail blazers (none of whom belonged to her party which was formed in 2003).  However, to millennials, these names or their accomplishments would mean little.  They don't have to look to female leaders of the past.  They see female leaders everyday, and that's a good thing.  It means that women of my generation have done our jobs.

What they heard from Ambrose would sound like words from the parents in the Peanuts cartoon: "mwa-mwa-mwa"

This is what the opposition and indeed the Canadian media, don't understand about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  He is the epitome of the modern feminist.  You don't have to be macho to be masculine, but you can be.  You don't have to be a female to be a feminist, but you can be.  It's all about equality and doing what's best for you.

In the United States millennials now outnumber baby boomers, and in Canada, they now represent the majority in the workplace.

The media and politicians, must adapt to this new reality or step aside.  Of course Trudeau won the "elbowgate" debate.  He was having "a dad moment".  Young parents could relate.  But modern feminists could not relate to the aftermath.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau came along at the right time, as we baby boomers were coming of age.  We were also anti-establishment and viewed his antics through a different lens than the media and his political opponents.  The same is happening today with his son.

At the Conservative convention they have now embraced the baby boomer generation, even quoting PET's famous remarks about staying out of the bedrooms, but it's half a century too late.  We've moved on.  

Our children and grandchildren did not grow up with the aproned women chained to the kitchen.  They grew up with us.  

Now it's time for the media and members of the opposition parties to just grow up.

Status of Women Gets Another Winner as Rona Ambrose Flops Again

I had actually forgotten that Rona Ambrose was still in government. When the House isn't sitting you don't see her plonked behind Harper looking bored.

So when I heard that she put her foot in her mouth today, I remembered. Oh yeah. We pay her more than $200,000.00 a year to do what exactly?

Why doesn't Harper just cut to the chase and drop the ministry of the Status of Women. It's not like we have any status now. It's clearly a waste of money and obviously Ambrose's time, since she is not even trying.

The Conservative government dispatched one of its ministers Monday to the city where a 16-year-old girl was killed by her father and brother to condemn so-called honour killings, but it appears Rona Ambrose may have spoken out of turn. The event was a statement from the minister for status of women, containing no program or funding announcement, and the news to emerge was that Ambrose said Ottawa is "looking at" amending the Criminal Code to include so-called honour crimes.

She was asked if the government was considering such changes, and she replied that it was under consideration. "I'll say that it's something that we're looking at," she said. "Nothing more than that at this time." However, when contacted for more details about possible changes, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said in fact, that is not the case.

Just go home Rona and stay there. They'll call you next time they need a "female" presence. Smile. Get your picture taken. Think you can handle it?

Canada's Environmental Policies and Saving the Planet

Exxon, the world's richest and mightiest corporation, was the leading force behind a massive ten-year campaign to block the Kyoto accord and ensure the world remained hooked on the product that Exxon has made its fortune selling. This was no easy battle, even for Exxon.

Lined up against it was virtually the entire scientific world—and, for that matter, most of the world community. In the end, not even Exxon was able to block the signing of the historic Kyoto Protocol, as the world came together in 1997 in a far-reaching bid to shake our planet-endangering oil addiction.

But Exxon did score one huge victory in March 2001, when the newly elected administration of George W Bush and Dick Cheney, close Exxon allies, withdrew U.S. support for Kyoto. The withdrawal of the United States, which emits roughly one quarter of the world's greenhouse gases, was a devastating blow. Still, the world community has pressed on with Kyoto.

Into this titanic, ongoing struggle between the world community and the Bush-Cheney-Exxon axis of oil, Canada has now definitively entered—on the side of the oil interests.

With the release of the Harper government's so-called Clean Air Act in October 2006, Ottawa signalled its abandonment of Kyoto. This amounted to a repudiation of the only serious effort under way to tackle global warming. (HOLDING THE BULLY'S COAT, Canada and the U.S. Empire, Linda McQuaig, Doubleday Canada, ISBN 978-0-385-66012-9, Pg. 22)

So there you have it. The world will never reach an agreement on global warming, when the oil companies hold all the power and the purse strings.

It's no secret that Stephen Harper's float to power was down a stream of crude, or that he has significant links to Exxon himself. His father was an executive at Imperial Oil, a subsidiary of Exxon; and it was at his father's company that Harper held his only real job, before entering the political arena. (the National Citizens Coalition is a right-wing political lobby group, so that's not a real job either)

It's also no secret that our current dictator does not believe in the science of global warming, calling it a theory; and in fact has referred to the Kyoto Accord as a 'socialist plot'.

Now don't get me wrong. The Liberals before him, though helping to create the Kyoto Protocol, allowed greenhouse gases to rise under their watch. But as former environment minister Stephane Dion told the San Francisco Chronicle in May 2005, "There is no minister of the environment on earth who can stop this [oil sands development] from going forward because there is too much money in it."

It presents a problem for Canada, but should not sway our opinion of the tar sands. Unless we can legitimately clean them up, and and I don't see how we can, we have to start moving toward a green economy, and losing our dependency on oil. It's that simple.

In an attempt to organize my archived and future posts, I'm using this page to link to environmental stories, by categories. Further links will be available as you navigate the pages. Just be patient ... I'm working as quickly as I can.

Climate Change

Climate Change Denial

Copenhagen

Reformers Environmental Disaster

Rona Ambrose Has Been a Disappointment But is Still Cause For Concern

Rona Ambrose is the Reform-Conservative member of Parliament for Edmonton–Spruce Grove, and currently Minister of Labour.

Her riding was created in 2003 and she was it's first MP. Mind you, she spent a lot of money to get that seat. In 2008, a total of $94,219; five times more than the Liberal candidate and ten times more than the NDP.

However, that doesn't mean she isn't deserving of the job. She's extremely bright and well educated; not that we ever really get to know that.

As a Harper Reformer, she only gets to speak when spoken to.

Instead, he places her to his right, and more often than not, when he is speaking; we will see her sitting over his shoulder, looking bored, and wishing she was anywhere but there. I don't blame her.

As a Libertarian, she promotes an economy unfettered by government regulations. This is not a good thing for Canadians, because we saw a sample of what this means with the Listeriosis outbreak.

I also have trouble with her pro-corporate stance. Promoting Canadian industry is essential, but all Canadians should benefit from this country's vast natural resources, not just a chosen few; especially when many of those 'chosen' are not even Canadian.

And I'm concerned with her participation in the controversial Trilateral Commission, which has links to the pro-military Council on Foreign Relations. The CFR does not have the scary religious overtones of the Council for National Policy, but they can be just as secretive and disturbing.

Ambrose will probably win the next election, and everyone after. Her riding is very white bread, with an average annual income of almost $100,000 and a less than 4% unemployment rate.

But we can put her on the other side of the room, in opposition, and out of government; by highlighting the horrendous actions of the Harper government.

More Postings on Rona Ambrose:

Rhona Ambrose Failed Us. John Baird Failed Us. Jim Prentice is Failing Us! Are Canadians now Happy With Failure?