{"id":205365,"date":"2019-03-05T23:17:17","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T04:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=205365"},"modified":"2019-03-05T23:17:17","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T04:17:17","slug":"feminist-agenda-undermined-by-reaction-to-cabinet-resignations-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/03\/05\/feminist-agenda-undermined-by-reaction-to-cabinet-resignations-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Feminist agenda undermined by reaction to cabinet resignations: Opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Then, this week, Jane Philpott followed her out. A former health minister and Indigenous-services minister who was president of the federal Treasury Board when she quit the cabinet, Philpott was widely seen as one of\u00a0Trudeau’s most capable ministers. (File photo<\/a>: Jane Philpott\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2014 Feminism has been a key element of the Liberal party’s appeal to voters since the 2015 election campaign but Prime Minister Justin\u00a0Trudeau’s handling of the fallout from the SNC-Lavalin affair shows that he’s a hypocrite, opposition parties say.<\/p>\n

Former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from\u00a0Trudeau’s cabinet in mid-February and has alleged that\u00a0Trudeau\u00a0and his staff subjected her to relentless pressure to help Montreal engineering firm SNC-Lavalin avoid a criminal prosecution on bribery and fraud charges.<\/p>\n

Then, this week, Jane Philpott followed her out. A former health minister and Indigenous-services minister who was president of the federal Treasury Board when she quit the cabinet, Philpott was widely seen as one of\u00a0Trudeau’s most capable ministers.<\/p>\n

Both had been symbols of the Liberals’ ability to recruit strong female candidates: Wilson-Raybould is a lawyer and former regional chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations; Philpott is a family doctor with extensive experience abroad. Both were first-time candidates for the Liberals in 2015.<\/p>\n

After Wilson-Raybould resigned,\u00a0Trudeau\u00a0repeatedly called her \u201cJody\u201d in defending his actions toward her \u2014 a small indignity but one many noticed. Philpott’s resignation letter included a long explanation of the principles of cabinet solidarity and mutual support and how she believed she could no longer sustain them. Asked about her departure, Finance Minister Bill Morneau began by observing that Wilson-Raybould and Philpott are close friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attempt by the cabinet to highlight a personal relationship as an explanation as to why the cabinet minister resigned is completely false,\u201d Conservative deputy leader Lisa Raitt said in an interview. \u201cThat is not a fair commentary because it has nothing to do with friendship and everything to do with her (Philpott’s) set of values and how she felt about standing there and toeing the cabinet line when she didn’t believe a word that the prime minister was saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Liberals use their feminist agenda as a talking point but undermine powerful women by referring to them with gendered language and old tropes, Raitt said.<\/p>\n

The departures of the two ministers show that women who speak truth to power and have strong principles need not seek cabinet posts, the NDP’s women’s-equality critic Irene Mathyssen agreed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think women across the country are looking at that and understanding it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A poll by Ipsos for Global News, which the company released Tuesday, found women responding to the pollsters were more critical of\u00a0Trudeau’s handling of the affair than men. Female respondents were more likely than male respondents to believe Wilson-Raybould’s account of events than\u00a0Trudeau’s, more likely to believe that the story isn’t overblown and deserves the attention it is getting, more likely to want a public inquiry or police investigation.<\/p>\n

Female cabinet ministers stuck up for the Liberals and\u00a0Trudeau\u00a0on Tuesday. Speaking in Longueuil, Que., on Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the prime minister has her confidence, adding she appreciates the prime minister sees her family \u2014 she has three children \u2014 as an advantage rather than an problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a huge privilege for me to serve in this government, to serve as foreign minister for Canada,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Small Business Minister Mary Ng said in an interview that she does not see the cabinet departures as having an impact on the Liberal government’s feminist agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at the work that we are doing,\u201d she told The Canadian Press. \u201cOf course I’m disappointed that both Jody and Jane have chosen to step down from cabinet but the work that we are doing as a cabinet and as government, particularly for women, is extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 Feminism has been a key element of the Liberal party’s appeal to voters since the 2015 election campaign …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":192663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-kristy-kirkup","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}