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Losing Common Ground: Feminists, Conservatives and Public Policy in Canada during the Mulroney Years*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Sylvia Bashevkin
Sylvia Bashevkin
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Abstract

This article examines relations between organized feminism and the federal Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, focusing on elements of the Canadian women's movement that targeted federal policy change from 1984 to 1993. In questioning the main priorities of both sides and the potential for conflict between them, the discussion uses the conceptual literature on social movement evolution as a base. It assesses formal decision making across five major policy sectors identified by Canadian feminism and presents the perspectives of movement activists on the Mulroney period. Although comparisons with policy action under the Thatcher and Reagan governments indicate a more pro-feminist record in Canada than the United Kingdom or the United States, Canadian materials suggest a narrowing of common ground between the organized women's movement and federal elites during the Mulroney years.

Résumé

Cet article présente une analyse des rapports entre les organisations féministes et le précédent gouvernement fédéral conservateur de Brian Mulroney, en insistant sur les factions du mouvement féministe qui souhaitaient un changement des politiques fédérales au Canada durant les années 1984–1993. La litérature conceptuelle sur les mouvements sociaux y est utilisée pour examiner les priorités de chacun des deux camps et leur potentiel conflictuel. On évalue les décisions concernant cinq grands domaines des politiques publiques identifiés par le féminisme canadien, et on présente les perspectives des militantes du mouvement au sujet de cette période. Bien que les comparaisons avec les décisions prises sous les gouvernements Thatcher en Grande-Bretagne et Reagan aux États-Unis permettent d'identifier une sympathie plus grande à l'égard du féminisme au Canada, la documentation indique que le terrain d'entente entre le mouvement des femmes au Canada et les élites fédérales s'est étiolé tout au long de l'ère de Brian Mulroney.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , June 1996 , pp. 211 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1996

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References

1 Rebick, Judy, as quoted in Gottlieb, Amy, ed., “What About Us? Organizing Inclusively in the National Action Committee on the Status of Women,” in Carty, Linda, ed., And Still We Rise: Feminist Political Mobilizing in Canada (Toronto: Women's Press, 1993), 380.Google Scholar

2 Mulroney, Brian, as quoted in Sharpe, Sydney, The Gilded Ghetto: Women and Political Power in Canada (Toronto: HarperCollins, 1994), 117.Google Scholar

3 For comparisons of these two cases, see Haussman, Melissa A., “The Personal Is Constitutional: Feminist Struggles for Equality Rights in the United States and Canada,” in Bystydzienski, Jill M., ed., Women Transforming Politics: Worldwide Strategies for Empowerment (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992), 108–27Google Scholar; and Black, Naomi, “Ripples in the Second Wave: Comparing the Contemporary Women's Movement in Canada and the United States,” in Backhouse, Constance and Flaherty, David H., eds., Challenging Times: The Women's Movement in Canada and the United States (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992), 94–109.Google Scholar

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6 See Mulroney, Brian, Where I Stand (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1983), 99.Google Scholar On the Mulroney government as less dogmatic or ideological than the Thatcher or Reagan regimes, see Savoie, Donald J., Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney: In Search of a New Bureaucracy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994), 271Google Scholar; Sawatsky, John, Mulroney: The Politics of Ambition (Toronto: Macfarlane, Walter and Ross, 1991) 471Google Scholar; Gollner, Andrew B. and Salée, Daniel, “A Turn to the Right? Canada in the Post-Trudeau Era,” in Gollner, Andrew B. and Salée, Daniel, eds., Canada under Mulroney (Montreal: Véhicule Press, 1988), 18Google Scholar; Pierson, Paul and Smith, Miriam, “Bourgeois Revolutions? The Policy Con-sequences of Resurgent Conservatism,” Comparative Political Studies 25 (1993), 498CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and MacDonald, L. Ian, Mulroney: The Making of the Prime Minister (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1984), 298, 305.Google Scholar

7 Sawatsky, Mulroney, 543.

8 Mulroney's December 1984 speech in New York, as quoted in Martin, Lawrence, Pledge of Allegiance: The Americanization of Canada in the Mulroney Years (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1993), 69.Google Scholar

9 See Sharpe, The Gilded Ghetto, chap. 7. On Campbell's political career, see Fife, Robert, Kim Campbell: The Making of a Politician (Toronto: Harper-Collins, 1993Google Scholar); Dobbin, Murray, The Politics of Kim Campbell: From School Trustee to Prime Minister (Toronto: Lorimer, 1993Google Scholar); and McLaughlin, David, Poisoned Chalice: The Last Campaign of the Progressive Conservative Party? (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1994Google Scholar).

10 See Sharpe, The Gilded Ghetto, 213.

11 These coalitions included the Pro-Canada Network as well as anti-budget, pro-choice, anti-GST and anti-UI reform coalitions. See Marjorie Griffin Cohen, “The Canadian Women's Movement and Its Efforts to Influence the Canadian Economy,” in Backhouse and Flaherty, eds., Challenging Times, 215–24; and Pal, Leslie A., Interests of State: The Politics of Language, Multiculturalism and Feminism in Canada (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993), 227.Google Scholar

12 For a critical discussion of this view, see Myra Marx Ferree and Martin, Patricia Yancey, “Doing the Work of the Movement: Feminist Organizations,” in Ferree, Myra Marx and Martin, Patricia Yancey, eds., Feminist Organizations: Harvest of the New Women's Movement (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995), 6–11Google Scholar; and Burt, Sandra, “Canadian Women's Groups in the 1980s: Organizational Development and Policy Influence,” Canadian Public Policy 16 (1990), 17–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 See Vickers et al., Politics as if Women Mattered, 7–9.

14 Madeleine Parent, for example, was a prominent feminist opponent of the Mulroney government in Quebec (see Madeleine Parent, “Fifty Years a Feminist Trade Unionist: An Interview,” in Connelly and Armstrong, eds.. Feminism in Action, 47–65).

15 Francophone women's groups from outside Quebec also tended to support a centralist position. During the debate over the Meech Lake Accord, for example, La Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ) argued that the distinct society clause did not threaten women's equality in Quebec; this position contrasted directly with English-Canadian feminist positions. See Smith, Lynn, “The Distinct Society Clause in the Meech Lake Accord: Could It Affect Equality Rights for Women?” in Swinton, Katherine E. and Rogerson, Carol J., eds., Competing Constitutional Visions: The Meech Lake Accord (Toronto: Carswell, 1988), 45–46Google Scholar; and Vickers, Jill, “The Canadian Women's Movement and a Changing Constitutional Order,” International Journal of Canadian Studies 7–8 (1993), 267, 271, 277.Google Scholar

16 For assessments of these other dimensions, see Linda Christiansen-Ruffman, “Women's Conceptions of the Political: Three Canadian Women's Organizations,” in Ferree and Martin, eds., Feminist Organizations, 372–93; Findlay, Sue, “Facing the State: The Politics of the Women's Movement Reconsidered,” in Maroney, Heather Jon and Luxton, Meg, eds., Feminism and Political Economy (Toronto: Methuen, 1987), 31–50Google Scholar; and Wine, Jeri Dawn and Ristock, Janice L., eds., Women and Social Change (Toronto: Lorimer, 1991Google Scholar).

17 Because consensus among feminists had not been achieved on the pornography issue, it is not considered in this study (see Gotell, Lise, “Policing Desire: Obscenity Law, Pornography Politics, and Feminism in Canada,” in Brodie, Janine, ed., Women and Canadian Public Policy [Toronto: Harcourt, Brace, 1996], 279–317Google Scholar).

18 See Thatcher, Margaret, The Downing Street Years (New York: HarperCollins, 1993Google Scholar); and Reagan, Ronald, An American Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990Google Scholar).

19 See sources cited in note 6, above, as well as Gratton, Michel, “So, What Are the Boys Saying?” An Inside Look at Brian Mulroney in Power (Toronto: Paperjacks, 1987Google Scholar).

20 Senior federal officials, as quoted in Savoie, Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney, 268, 271, 272.

21 If the term “Mulroneyism” had any content at a colloquial level, it referred to a crass pursuit of cronyism in Conservative party politics (see Cameron, Stevie, On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years [Toronto: Macfarlane Walter and Ross, 1994Google Scholar]).

22 This process of modernizing the Conservative base began under Mulroney's predecessor as party leader, Joe Clark.

23 Mulroney, Where I Stand, 90; see also Sawatsky, Mulroney, 472; and MacDonald, Mulroney, 288.

24 According to at least one account, Mulroney was virtually obsessed with the shadow cast by Pierre Trudeau in domestic and international politics (see Gratton, “So, What Are the Boys Saying?” 80–81).

25 See Sawatsky, Mulroney, 538–40; MacDonald, Mulroney, 291–92; and Jeffrey, Brooke, Breaking Faith: The Mulroney Legacy of Deceit, Destruction and Disunity (Toronto: Key Porter, 1992), 10–11, 17.Google Scholar

26 Savoie, Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney, 4.

27 See Gollner and Salée, “A Turn to the Right?”

28 Mulroney, Where I Stand, as quoted in Ibid., 14–15. On patterns of foreign investment during the Mulroney years, see Jeffrey, Breaking Faith, 159–60.

29 See Savoie, Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney, 246–47; and Gratton, “So, What Are the Boys Saying?” chap. 10.

30 Mulroney, as quoted in Martin, Pledge of Allegiance, 69.

31 Sawatsky, Mulroney, 543.

32 Savoie, Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney, 91. On the actual growth in public indebtedness during the Mulroney years see Jeffrey, Breaking Faith, 151, 155.

33 See Gratton, “So, What Are the Boys Saying?” 82; and Jeffrey, Breaking Faith, 18, 175, 180.

34 See Richard Simeon, “National Reconciliation: The Mulroney Government and Federalism,” in Gollner and Salée, eds., Canada under Mulroney, 25.

35 Mulroney, as quoted in Sawatsky, Mulroney, 470. See also Ibid., 545–46.

36 See Simeon, “National Reconciliation.”

37 Sawatsky, Mulroney, 471.

38 See MacDonald, Mulroney, 298–99; Vickers et al., Politics as if Women Mattered, 191–92; Sharpe, The Gilded Ghetto, 114; and Silman, Janet, Enough Is Enough: Aboriginal Women Speak Out (Toronto: Women's Press, 1987), 205.Google Scholar

39 See Sharpe, The Gilded Ghetto, chap. 7.

40 Mulroney, as quoted in Ibid., 111.

41 See Ibid., 124–26.

42 Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (Ottawa: Information Canada, 1970).

43 See Bashevkin, Sylvia, True Patriot Love: The Politics of Canadian Nationalism (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1991), 138.Google Scholar For detailed breakdowns on NAC members and budgets, see Vickers, “Bending the Iron Law of Oligarchy,” 89.

44 According to the March 1995 issue of NAC's Action Now newsletter, “in the early 1980s, almost 90 per cent of NAC's funding came from the Federal Government” (2). For detailed figures on grants from the federal Women's Program, see Pal, Interests of State, 221–25.

45 Prentice, Alison, Bourne, Paula, Brandt, Gail Cuthbert, Light, Beth, Mitchinson, Wendy and Black, Naomi, Canadian Women: A History (Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), 350.Google Scholar

46 See Adamson, Nancy, Briskin, Linda and McPhail, Margaret, Feminist Organizing for Change: The Contemporary Women's Movement in Canada (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1988), 63.Google Scholar

47 On differences between Quebec and English-Canadian feminists over this issue, see Vickers et al., Politics as if Women Mattered, 104–05, 108, 110; and Doerr, Audrey and Carrier, Micheline, eds., Women and the Constitution in Canada (Ottawa: Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, 1981Google Scholar). According to veteran participants, NAC's issue priorities at any given point in time were largely a function of the interests of its most committed activists.

48 See Vickers et al., Politics as if Women Mattered, 36, 91; and Vickers, “The Canadian Women's Movement,” 269, 278.

49 Adamson et al., Feminist Organizing for Change, 53.

50 See Coleman, William D., “Federalism and Interest Group Organization,” in Bakvis, Herman and Chandler, William M., eds., Federalism and the Role of the State (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987), 173–74.Google Scholar

51 See Briskin, “Socialist Feminism.”

52 See Prentice et al., Canadian Women: A History, 357–61. On service provision by local women's organizations, see Burt, “Canadian Women's Groups in the 1980s.”

53 Adamson et al., Feminist Organizing for Change, 175. On the varied elements in the movement at this point, see Phillips, Susan D., “Meaning and Structure in Social Movements: Mapping the Network of National Canadian Women's Organizations,” this Journal 24 (1991), 755–82.Google Scholar

54 See Phillips, Susan D., “Political Strategies of the Canadian Women's Movement: Who's Listening? Who's Speaking?” Carleton University School of Public Administration, 1994Google Scholar Working Paper, 14; and Vickers et al., Politics as if Women Mattered, 142–45, 170. On the formation of the DisAbled Women's Network (DAWN) during this period, see Joanne Doucette, “The DisAbled Women's Network: A Fragile Success,” in Wine and Ristock, eds., Women and Social Change, 221–35; and Diane Driedger, “Discovering Disabled Women's History,” in Carty, ed., And Still We Rise, 173–87.

55 See Gottlieb, ed., “What About Us?” 378; and Sue Findlay, “Problematizing Privilege: Another Look at Representation,” in Carty, ed., And Still We Rise, 207–24.

56 See Hosek, Chaviva, “Women and the Constitutional Process,” in Banting, Keith and Simeon, Richard, eds., And No One Cheered (Toronto: Methuen, 1983), 280–300Google Scholar; and Burt, Sandra, “The Charter of Rights and the Ad Hoc Lobby: The Limits of Success,” Atlantis 14 (1988), 74–81.Google Scholar

57 Barlow later played a leading role during the Mulroney years in the struggle against continental free trade. On relations between feminists and the Liberal state, see Findlay, “Facing the State: The Politics of the Women's Movement Reconsidered”; and Burt, Sandra, “Organized Women's Groups and the State,” in Coleman, William D. and Skogstad, Grace, eds., Policy Communities and Public Policy in Canada (Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman, 1990), 191–211.Google Scholar

58 On the impetus for the organizational review, see Vickers et al., Politics as if Women Mattered, 5–6, 41, 148–52; as well as Lorraine Greaves, “Reorganizing the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, 1986–1988,” in Wine and Ristock, eds., Women and Social Change, 101–16. According to Greaves, all but one NAC staff member resigned at the 1988 annual meeting (109). On Dulude's view of this period, see Louise Dulude, “The Status of Women under the Mulroney Government,” in Gollner and Salée, eds., Canada under Mulroney, 253–64.

59 See Bashevkin, True Patriot Love, chap. 6; and Léger, Huguette and Rebick, Judy, The NAC Voters' Guide (Hull: National Action Committee on the Status of Women, 1993Google Scholar).

60 R.E.A.L. was an acronym for Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life. See Vickers et al., Politics as if Women Mattered, 146–48; Dubinsky, Karen, Lament for a Patriarchy Lost: Anti-Feminism, Anti-Abortion and R.E.A.L. Women in Canada (Ottawa: Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, 1985Google Scholar); and Herman, Didi, “The Christian Right and the Politics of Morality in Canada,” Parliamentary Affairs 47 (1994), 268–79.Google Scholar

61 R.E.A.L. Women received approximately $21,000 in federal funds to support a conference held in Ottawa in April 1989 (see Pal, Interests of State, 147).

62 It should be noted that Canada was governed for all but nine months of this period by the federal Liberals; the Conservatives obtained a brief minority government under Prime Minister Joe Clark in 1979–1980. On movement development in the period before 1985, see Burt, Sandra, “Women's Issues and the Women's Movement in Canada since 1970,” in Cairns, Alan and Williams, Cynthia, eds., The Politics of Gender, Ethnicity and Language in Canada, Royal Commission Research Studies, Vol. 34 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press for Supply and Services Canada, 1986), 111–69.Google Scholar

63 See Baines, Beverley, “Law, Gender, Equality,” in Burt, Sandra, Code, Lorraine and Dorney, Lindsay, eds., Changing Patterns: Women in Canada (2nd ed.; Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1993), 260–61.Google Scholar

64 Disagreements occurred in this period, however, between Quebec and English-Canadian groups and, among the latter, between supporters and opponents of an entrenched charter of rights (see Vickers et al., Politics as if Women Mattered, 105–06).

65 On the Murdoch case, see Eichler, Margrit, “Social Policy Concerning Women,” in Yelaja, Shankar A., ed., Canadian Social Policy (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1987), 150.Google Scholar

66 See Morton, F. L., Morgentaler v. Borowski: Abortion, the Charter and the Courts (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1992Google Scholar); and Brodie, Janine, Gavigan, Shelley A. M. and Jenson, Jane, The Politics of Abortion (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1992Google Scholar).

67 Federal pay equity provisions, however, applied only to the 10 per cent of the Canadian labour force that was federally regulated.

68 See Bashevkin, Sylvia, “Confronting Neo-Conservatism: Anglo-American Women's Movements under Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney,” International Political Science Review 15 (1994), 275–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

69 See sources cited in note 3 above as well as Sterett, Susan, “Judicial Review in Britain,” Comparative Political Studies 26 (1994), 438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

70 See MacDonald, Mulroney, 291; and Sharpe, The Gilded Ghetto, 114.

71 For example, Mulroney named a record six women to his first cabinet in 1984, and invited NAC president Chaviva Hosek to a subsequent national economic conference.

72 For detailed accounts of judicial decision making under the Charter, see Brodsky, Gwen and Day, Shelagh, Canadian Charter Equality Rights for Women (Ottawa: Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, 1989Google Scholar); Brodsky, Gwen, “New Challenges for the Equality Rights Movement in Canada,” paper presented at University of Toronto Law School, November 25, 1994Google Scholar; and Hausegger, Lori and Knopff, Rainer, “The Effectiveness of Interest Group Litigation: An Assessment of LEAF'S Participation in Supreme Court Cases,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, Calgary, 1994.Google Scholar

73 Bill C-43 made abortion punishable by as much as two years in prison unless a doctor determined that continuing the pregnancy would threaten a woman's physical, mental or psychological health. See Pal, Leslie A., “How Ottawa Dithers: The Conservatives and Abortion Policy,” in Abele, Frances, ed., How Ottawa Spends, 1991–92 (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1991), 269–306.Google Scholar

74 See Eichler, “Social Policy Concerning Women,” 151.

75 See Noonan, Sheila, “Strategies of Survival: Moving beyond the Battered Woman Syndrome,” in Adelberg, Ellen and Currie, Claudia, eds., In Conflict with the Law: Women and the Canadian Justice System (Vancouver: Press Gang, 1993), 247–70.Google Scholar

76 See Bashevkin, Sylvia, “Facing a Renewed Right: American Feminism and the Reagan/Bush Challenge,” this Journal 27 (1994), 682–84Google Scholar; and Bashevkin, Sylvia, “Tough Times in Review: The British Women's Movement during the Thatcher Years,” Comparative Political Studies 28 (1996), 525–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

77 A total of 27 open-ended interviews averaging one hour in length were conducted by the author in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver between August 1988 and March 1995. Lists of respondents were drawn up based on the recommendations of three experts on the Canadian women's movement, who were asked to identify significant groups and activists that targeted federal policy change in each of the five areas. Daily newspapers and women's movement publications were consulted to document the length and extent of activism by each group and individual. Letters requesting interviews were sent by the researcher to identified respondents, and follow-up telephone calls were made to set up meetings. Although each respondent had experience in a specific area, in all cases their knowledge and background extended to a number of other policy domains. While most interviewees were heavily involved in organizations that had their base in Ottawa or Toronto, their backgrounds were quite diverse. Six respondents had experience in ethnic, Aboriginal or disabled women's groups; five in British Columbia groups; three in Prairie groups; two in Quebec groups; three in US organizations; and one each in Maritime and British women's groups. Parallel methodologies were used to identify British and American respondents.

78 See Razack, Sherene, Canadian Feminism and the Law: The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund and the Pursuit of Equality (Toronto: Second Story Press, 1991Google Scholar). During the 1985–1992 period, the Court Challenges Pro-gram was administered by the Canadian Council on Social Development rather than by Charter litigation groups. This administrative decision by the Conservatives was a source of considerable resentment and frustration among equal rights activists.

79 The Court Challenges Program was reinstated in October 1994 by the federal Liberals.

80 See Pal, “How Ottawa Dithers”; Phillips, Susan D., “Rock-a-Bye, Brian: The National Strategy on Child Care,” in Graham, Katherine A., ed., How Ottawa Spends, 1989–90 (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1989), 165–208Google Scholar; and Teghtsoonian, Katherine, “Neo-Conservative Ideology and Opposition to Federal Regulation of Child Care Services in the United States and Canada,” this Journal 26 (1993), 97–121.Google Scholar

81 See Gottlieb, ed., “What About Us?” 385; and Phillips, “Political Strategies of the Canadian Women's Movement,” 16.

82 NAC eventually opposed both the Federal Panel on Violence against Women and the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, arguing that neither body adequately represented Aboriginal and visible minority women. 83 For empirical data on attitudes in the Mulroney years, see Brooks, Stephen, Canadian Democracy: An Introduction (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1993), 368Google Scholar; and Kay, Barry J., Lambert, Ronald D., Brown, Steven D. and Curtis, James E., “Feminist Consciousness and the Canadian Electorate: A Review of National Election Studies,” Women and Politics 8 (1988), 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar It should be noted that while public opinion research indicates growing support over time for movement positions, this shift is not of the magnitude cited by activists.

84 During the summer of 1989, Barbara Todd and Chantal Daigle were taken to court by ex-boyfriends attempting to prevent them from having abortions. The monetary windfall for pro-choice organizations in this period paralleled the effects of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings and the Webster decision in the US (see Bashevkin, “Facing a Renewed Right,” 694).

85 On formal consultations with NAC by the Conservatives during their first term, see Vickers et al., Politics as if Women Mattered, 222–23.

86 See Bashevkin, True Patriot Love, chap. 6; and Cohen, Marjorie Griffin, “The Lunacy of Free Trade,” in Sinclair, Jim, ed., Crossing the Line: Canada and Free Trade with Mexico (Vancouver: New Star Books, 1992), 14–25.Google Scholar

87 The 1989 budget presented by Finance Minister Michael Wilson reduced NAC's federal support from $600,000 to $300,000 by 1991, while the 1990 budget cut support for women's centres and publications. See Vickers et al., Politics as if Women Mattered, 21–22; Pal, Interests of State, 147–48, 228, 232; and Susan D. Phillips, “How Ottawa Blends: Shifting Government Relation-ships with Interest Groups,” in Abele, ed., How Ottawa Spends, 1991–92, 200–01.

88 See Rice, James J. and Prince, Michael J., “Lowering the Safety Net and Weakening the Bonds of Nationhood: Social Policy in the Mulroney Years,” in Phillips, Susan D., ed., How Ottawa Spends, 1993–94 (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1993), 381–416Google Scholar; and McQuaig, Linda, The Wealthy Banker's Wife: The Assault on Equality in Canada (Toronto: Penguin, 1993), 101–05.Google Scholar

89 These changes included a ceiling or “cap” on CAP payments to Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia (see Rice and Prince, “Lowering the Safety Net,” 397; and McQuaig, The Wealthy Banker's Wife, 111).

90 See Brodsky, “New Challenges for the Equality Rights Movement,” 41.

91 See Jeffrey, Breaking Faith, 192–93; and Battle, Ken, “The Politics of Stealth: Child Benefits under the Tories,” in Phillips, , ed., How Ottawa Spends, 1993–1994, 417–48.Google Scholar

92 The minister responsible was Barbara McDougall.

93 In 1991, NAC adopted an asymmetrical, “three-nations” vision of Canada that recognized Québécois and Aboriginal rights to self-determination while advocating a strong federal government for the rest of Canada.

94 On English-Canadian responses to the Meech Lake Accord, see Smith, “The Distinct Society Clause in the Meech Lake Accord”; Ad Hoc Committee of Women on the Constitution, “We Can Afford a Better Accord: The Meech Lake Accord,” in Findlay, Sue and Randall, Melanie, eds., Feminist Perspectives on the Canadian State, a special issue of Resources for Feminist Research 17 (September 1988), 143–46Google Scholar; Cameron, Stevie, “Women Say Equality Rights Unquestionably at Risk in Accord,” The Globe and Mail (Toronto), August 27, 1987Google Scholar, A2; Baines, Beverley, “Women's Equality Rights and the Meech Lake Accord,” Saskatchewan Law Review 52 (1988), 265–302Google Scholar; Roberts, Barbara, Smooth Sailing or Storm Warning? Canadian and Quebec Women's Groups and the Meech Lake Accord (Ottawa: Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, 1988Google Scholar); and Riley, Susan, “The Meech Boys: Are Women Up the Lake Without a Paddle?” in Crean, Susan, ed., Twist and Shout: A Decade of Feminist Writing in This Magazine (Toronto: Second Story Press, 1992), 185–93.Google Scholar

On responses to the Charlottetown Accord, see Gottlieb, ed., “What About Us?”; Day, Shelagh, “Speaking for Ourselves,” in McRoberts, Kenneth and Monahan, Patrick, eds., The Charlottetown Accord, the Referendum and the Future of Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993), 58–72Google Scholar; Judy Rebick, “The Charlottetown Accord: A Faulty Framework and a Wrong-Headed Compromise,” in McRoberts and Monahan, eds., The Charlottetown Accord, 102–06; Dobrowolsky, Alexandra, “Women's Equality and the Constitutional Proposals,” in Cameron, Duncan and Smith, Miriam, eds., Constitutional Politics (Toronto: Lorimer, 1992), 147–56Google Scholar; and Speirs, Rosemary, “Women Face Split over ‘No' Vote,” The Toronto Star, September 19, 1992Google Scholar, C5.

95 According to a leading constitutional expert in NAC, the organization became “the extra-parliamentary opposition” during this period. See Shelagh Day, as quoted in Gottlieb, ed., “What About Us?” 381.

96 Brian Mulroney, as quoted in Jill Vickers, “The Canadian Women's Movement,” 277; and in Campbell, Robert M. and Pal, Leslie A., The Real Worlds of. Canadian Politics (3rd ed.; Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1994), 175.Google Scholar According to NAC activists, some of this smear campaign during the Charlotte-town period also emanated from the parliamentary opposition—including the NDP. See Judy Rebick, as quoted in Gottlieb, ed., “What About Us?” 383; and the excerpt from a provincial NDP memorandum on “single issue groups,” reprinted in McLeod, Ian, Under Siege: The Federal NDP in the Nineties (Toronto: Lorimer, 1994), 123.Google Scholar On tensions during the Meech Lake period, see Eberts, Mary, “The Constitution, the Charter and the Distinct Society Clause: Why Are Women Being Ignored?” in Behiels, Michael, ed., The Meech Lake Primer (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1989), 306Google Scholar; and Goar, Carol, “How PM Infuriated Women's Groups,” The Toronto Star, August 27, 1987Google Scholar, A2.

97 The term “special-interest group” is employed in Sharpe, The Gilded Ghetto, 31; Jeffrey, Breaking Faith, 150; and Jeffrey, Brooke, Strange Bedfellows, Trying Times: October 1992 and the Defeat of the Powerbrokers (Toronto: Key Porter, 1993), 148.Google Scholar

98 Respondents also noted the growing use of “political correctness” language in this period. Many identified the “p.c.” critique with a profound unwillingness to accept equality claims by women and other disadvantaged groups.

99 For a published version of this argument, see Dionne Brand, “Abortion Justice and the Rise of the Right,” in Crean, ed., Twist and Shout, 246–51.

100 On the problem of media hostility, see Phillips, “Political Strategies in the Canadian Women's Movement,” 22.

101 For a similarly pessimistic conclusion, see “Interview with Judy Rebick,” Studies in Political Economy 44 (1994), 57–61.

102 See Delacourt, Susan, “Losing Interest,” The Globe and Mail (Toronto), April 1, 1995Google Scholar, D1.

103 See Bashevkin, “Facing a Renewed Right”; and Bashevkin, “Tough Times in Review.”

104 See Sharpe, The Gilded Ghetto, 21; Sayings of Chairman Kim: Avril Phaedra Campbell in Her Own Words (Montreal: Davies Publishing, 1993), 41; Copps, Sheila, Nobody's Baby: A Survival Guide to Politics (Toronto: Deneau, 1986Google Scholar); and McLaughlin, Audrey with Archbold, Rick, A Woman's Place: My Life and Politics (Toronto: Macfarlane Walter and Ross, 1992), 213.Google Scholar

105 These organizations were founded in 1989 and 1990, respectively. See Lisa Young, “Fulfilling the Mandate of Difference: Cross-Party Cooperation among Women in the Canadian House of Commons,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, Ottawa, 1993, 8, 11.

106 See Jeffrey, Strange Bedfellows, 152; and Vickers, “The Canadian Women's Movement,” 278.

107 On tensions between NAC and the NDP in this period, see McLeod, Under Siege, 123–26; and Jeffrey, Strange Bedfellows, 202. On NAC conflicts with the Conservatives, see Sharpe, The Gilded Ghetto, 29; and Young, “Fulfilling the Mandate of Difference,” 20.

108 Provincial-level organizing by women's groups was not a new phenomenon, however. See Ronnie Leah and Cydney Ruecker, “Saskatchewan Women Respond to Cutbacks: The Founding of a Provincial Women's Coalition,” in Wine and Ristdck, eds., Women and Social Change, 117–33; Brock, Kathy L., “Being Heard: Interest Representation in the Manitoba Constitutional Process,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, Kingston, 1991Google Scholar; and Women's Economic Agenda, Three Deals, One Game: BC Women Look at Free Trade, Meech Lake and Privatization (Bumaby: Press Gang, 1988Google Scholar).