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Times-Advocate, 1985-05-01, Page 13Candidates debate women's issues By Shelley NItI'hee Day care, employment equality. women and education. agriculture and affirmative act ton were among the issues of debate at an all - candidates meeting held w Clinton on April 25. Huron -Middlesex candidates. Liberal incumbent Jack Riddell. Pt' candidate liryan.Stnrth and NI)P can- didate Paul Klopp. tackled the I.SueS at a.meeting sponsored by Women To- day and the Huron Il oaten 'Teachers Association. Attended by over 75 men and women, the meeting was the first of its kind ever to be held in the area The candidates showed their political awareness in some areas concerning women's issues and at other limes learned new facts and figures pertain- ing to the vital issues facing women. A panel. including Pat Brown of Women Today : 'Vary Ellen Walsh ot the Federation of Teachers: Nancy McLeod of WonIen 'Today: Debbie Selkirk of the Huron Chapter 01 Registered Nurses Association and Mary Van Rommel ot 11'cnnen in Agriculture presented a series of. prepared quest imus to the candidates. ----II and 1 era 1 ► Care Delivery • Debbie Selkirk of (:oderich asked the candidates "to re -allocate health care dollars to make honw and com- munity based programs an integral part of the health care system.•' She asked for government support for a health care policy, with nitwit from professional care. givers and consumers. She questioned. "Will you press for government's establishment of a consultative process which receives input from all parts of t)n- tario Society''" - Riddell noted. The simple answer is yes." stressing that expanded horse care servicers :•, i11 alleviate hospital burdens Ile said his government Is prepared CELEBRATE CHARTER on •aped 1..-7. (4'. tai5 women teachers gathered at the Horse and Hound and the Black Angus for a "Celebration Dinner." sponsored by the Federation of Women Teachers' Association of Ontario This "Celebration'- was held in ► honour of the Equality It►I,hl.srovi provi- sions Ic'ontauned In Section 15 en the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which come into force on April 17. Wooten in Canada have evorked long and hard to "set the stan- dard high" and have used their "in fluence zinc] power" to ensure that these equality rights doappear in the Charter. In a written speech sent to every member of the E•'.11'.T.A.O.. the pro- vincial president wrote: "So we celebrate not only the coming into el - of the equality rights provisions" of the charter today.. but also we celebrate the collective power of women in Canadian society. We celebrate the battles that have been won: to achieve the vole: .c 1.0 declare persons under the law in Canada. and to have equal]% rights included in the Charter 01 Rights. "And finally we c•elebrale with all those women in Canadian history who have brought us to this.ignificanl step towards equal rights for women. .'Enjoy this oelebraIion and remehiher it - to .hare with your daughters and granddaughters in the years 10 come . .Adrienne Thews Ailsa Graig to give more funding to home care programs and hospitals. He said it was a "crime" that hospitals are fac- ed with tight budgeting, noting, "Surely hospitals shouldn't be ex- pected to take less than inflation." Klopp said that OHIP should Lund midwives and midwifery programs should be developed to save money in hospitals' and provide a service for women who are able to have babies at home. Ile emphasized a need for expanded preventative health treasures and prenatal programs and services dealing with needs in in- dividual areas. Smith said he was concerned with small hospitals and noted that he sup- ported input froth all aspects 01 health care. • Child care programs The candidates supported (he con- cerns tor affordable. quality, accessi- ble child care in Huron County. Women 'l'otlay have determined a "desperate need" for additional ser- vices in the county. Concern also sur- rounds proposed subsidy funding to municipal day care set•v.ices. such as the 'l'uc•kersmith Day Nursery. • • they would do to prevent the possible closing of the Tuckersmilh Nursery, and what they would do to ensure that other Huron -Middlesex municipalities are given quality day care facilities. Smith said that the. Conservative goverment is committed to a :10 per cent increase in day care funding. Ile noted, "'I'uckersmith, you can be assured you won't lose subsidized care space." Many parents face "two antagoniz- ing alternatives, "Riddell said - either to stay at home at look after their children, or use unaffordable day- care aycare centres. ile said the Liberals would ensure a mixture 01 private and public child care programs and would+ provide trading to establish new programs. creating 10.000 new child care spaces. Equality in Agriculture Mary Van Hommel of Dashwood. pointed out that provincial farm assistance programs lack equality of - eligibility for women. Two such pro- grams are the provincially ad- ministered Income Stabilization Pro- grams and the Beginning Farmer :Assistance Program l tiFAP►. She noted that while single women. mothers, commonlaw wivesor sisters may he eligible under farm partner- ships for assistance, "married women are expected to go to great length to prove their elegibilily or simply do not qualify under existing legislation. Since no precedence has been set to the contrary. this practice. of discrimination against married farm women may'well continue into the future." Smith said the problem is "not on- ly a woman's issue." 1le said the situation is tiring reviewed and "if possible the requirements will be refined. You can be assured we'll be !9oking into that." Riddell said That the Conservative government "has not been prepared to deviate" from the program requirements. "i helieve a wife should be able to apply and receive these programs. 11 has to be thoroughly reveiwed. One can see some abuse taking place." Ile said that full consultation is needed w ith women. farm groups. "all knowledgeable people will need to iron this out.' Klopp said that BFAI' "makes a mockery of anyone in farming with a good education-" He said that needs of farmers are not being met, "Stabilization pro- grams need to have teeth to give farmers a decent income, then in the long run you'll get equality." Affirmative Action In December 1984. Mary Ellen Walsh reported, the ministry of education announced a program un support of affirmative action tui female employees. This was aimed at raising the level of occupational op- portunities for women. She -asked the. cadidates if they planned to en- courage affirmative action in the private and public sectors. Klopp said he supported mandatory- affirmative andatoryaffirmative action groups. equal pay laws and initiating complaints against employers ‘with protection provided against employer reprisals. Ile called for public justitic•ation for plant closures and reduction in man- datory overtime hours to provide more employment for more people. Smith said that the "real obstacle is concentration of women in low pay- ing jobs." He stressed the need to en- courage women to enter jobs with- • • .. - ► - nd 19 • rovide training opportunities tor women. The PC candidate noted that in 1961,'25 percent of university students were women. By 1981 tha1,'figure had risen to one-half. "These women are rising to the top of their fields and wages will in- crease. The process won't happen overnight," he noted. Riddell called for more women in the provincial legislature "to make their voices heard." He said the -Liberal government is commmitted to retraining programs for women in non-traditional careers. Funding women's organizations Candidates were asked if their par- ties were committed to funding women's organizations "that are do- ing substantiae work to raise the status of Ontario women through pro- jects. programs and activities aimed at social and economic equality." Klopp said the government is shif- ting the responsbility back on the municipalities. "They try to cut back so taxes won't jump and therefore many programs are dropped." Smith defended his government by noting that "numerous groups add value and input in many ways," but suggested it was a "massive burden on society" to provide funding for all these groups. He said that the Conser- vative government finances projects, not organizations, using Women To- day project grants as an example. Riddell retaliated, "If Women To- day is doing the job the ministry of women's issues is supposed to be do- ing, then they deserve to be paid for it." He gained audience support when he suggested that no ministry of women's issues has "seriously ad- dressed" women's concerns. Ile suggested turning more money from patronage appointments to groups like Women Today. Post secondary education A question from the audience ask- ed for the candidates' position on post secondary education for women. in- creasing tuition fees and grant reductions. Riddell noted, "The Bovey Report is a pile of junk." Ile said that the pro- posals to raise tuition fees were "in- comprehensible" and noted that • "education is the most important part in any person's life." He said that former Ontario premier William Davis, "ex - perunenled with the lives of our young people" through the education' system. Ile stressed the need to return to core curriculum studies. in- cluding Canadian history, geography and English. There was no argument on this issue from the PC candidate. Smith simply noted. "1 agree. thanks Jack. The Bovey ('omntission should drop that piece of paper and go back to square one... Klopp added. "The government should put more money into education or the whole system is a joke." Abortion Smith supported that decision to ap- peal the aquittal on the Morgantaler Abortion ('tit 'c case. Smith said he does not supri t the wide use of abut -- tion, "it snakes a mockery ,of the tederal taw." 7 Klopp disagreed. Ile said women should have the right to choose and the decision should be made between a woman and her doctor. Mr. Klopp said he didn't approve of abortion as a birth control method and stressed the. need for family planning educa- tion and counselling for pregnant women to encourage them to carry to erm. Riddell replied. "Paul I think you're skating on an ice cube." "I'm pro-life." he said, noting it was an "unforgiveable sin for a mother to abort" He noted that two of his nephews are adopted and proposed to the au- dience. "talk to an adopted child about abortion and they'll tell you what they think." He said that the federal.govern- ment should enforce their abortion laws and called therapeutic abortion committees "nothing more than a rubber stamp.•' Party policies "The NDP party has led the fight for women's issues." Mr. Klopp noted. The young Zurich area farmer said that he is running on the NUN. card in the election because he is "frustrated with promises 'rather than commitments" from the government. - Riddell listed'several areas of Liberal support for women's issues. Ile said that the five minute allotment for the prepared speech portion of the evening was not enough lime for him s to talk about women's issues. The Liberal candidate raced through his introductory speech. pointing out the need for employment equity, family law changes and pension improvements. The Progressive (..OIlSeC\'all\'eS have taken great strides to full and equal participation of wotnen in On- tario," Smith stated. "Women have full access to any Level they prepare and strive for." he said. "Women will gel a fairshake in the PC government." Smith also learned an important referred to women as "girls". it was lesson at the meeting. Several times pointed out to the candidate that this during the evening, the PC candidate term was not appreciated. CLINTON VISIT,— Ontario Liberal leader David Peterson • reeze into Clinton for a half-hour visit to the Clinton Public Hospital, The community hospital was threatened with closure by former health minister Frank Miller nine years ago. The Liberal leader said that his government would be willing to meet the financial needs of small community hospitals and health core budgeting would be reviewed and increased. He said that the Clinton Hospital today "Shows how wrong Mr. Miller was.,.Miller doesn't understand rural Ontario". Here Mr. Peterson meets Clinton Hospital administrator Dan Steyn. Also pictured is Huron -Middlesex Liberal. incumbent Jack Riddell. (Shelley McPhee photo) mes a" dvocate Ste mut South limbo. Moth A.idd4,r• ♦ North l.mblon Sint 1117J May 1. 1985 PagelA ;i1411-',01-0-4443-ViteR4UNN-0-Tierilig01 This Weeks Super Specials Tasty Nu, always fresh, Tea Biscuits finest quality �{t Bread 6/994 /41 Mozzarella Fresh baked` Crusty Rolls 2.69 lb 3 994 doz. asty u 9 ISpecials in effect Thursday to Saturday closing. 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