The National Action Committee on the Status of Women's Voters' Guide

Margaret Conrad is a professor of history at Acadia University. She is
the author of Intimate Relations: Family and Community in Planter Nova
Scotia, 1759–1800, and Making Adjustments: Change and Continuity in
Planter Nova Scotia, 1759–1800 and the co

Well known for its efforts since the 1984 federal election to establish
televised all-party debates on women’s issues, the National Action
Committee (NAC) has also begun to publish voters’ guides to help women
assess political parties vying for their support. The preface of this
edition states clearly NAC’s position. It supports a strong federal
government and national social programs to insure the well-being of
women and other marginalized groups in Canada. Indeed, NAC supports the
passage of a new Canadian Social Security Act to restore levels of
assistance and access to it that has been badly eroded by the 1996
legislation replacing the Canada Assistance Plan.

In addition to a chapter outlining the argument for an improved
social-security policy in Canada, the guide includes 14 articles dealing
with everything from aboriginal and immigrant women to childcare and
pension policy. Three appendixes focus on funding issues relating to
women’s organizations and feminist research, how to mount
all-candidates meetings, and how to get involved in NAC. In most
chapters the positions (when available) of the five federal political
parties are outlined and assessed. Although the governing Liberals come
off badly for refusing to answer the NAC questionnaire on many issues,
no political party is immune to criticism.

Even for those not motivated in their political choices by gender
issues, this resource makes informative and lively reading. Individual
case studies are often introduced at the beginning of chapters to focus
the topic, and information relating to the status of women in a number
of areas of work and well-being is usefully summarized. While the
occasion that produced this volume quickly passes, it remains a useful
document, testifying to the reasons there continues to be a “gender
gap” in Canadian politics.