Links to some key Ontario election campaigns advocating
for issues that are important to women’s centres

Ending Violence Against Women
The Step-it Up campaign is for better, faster government action on ending violence against women. The campaign started at a meeting of women activists hosted by Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH), the province-wide network of women's shelters.
It promotes 10 steps that represent areas for concrete actions that government can take to reduce and ultimately end violence against women. The website provides many ideas on ways to speak out about the issue.
http://www.stepitupontario.ca

Increasing the Number of Women Members of Parliament
Equal Voice is a national group of women and men dedicated to nominating more women candidates and electing more women to every level of government in Canada. The Equal Voice Ontario Challenge asked the leaders of the Ontario Liberal, Progressive Conservative and New Democratic parties to jointly commit to the goal of nominating more women candidates. Press releases, letters and statistics on the percentage of women members of parliament from each party are provided.
http://www.equalvoice.ca/idx.php?rl=186

Poverty Reduction
Anti-poverty groups, organizations and low-income people across the province are working to get the provincial government to raise social assistance rates to reflect the real cost of living, increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour, and end the National Child Benefit Supplement claw back from families on social assistance. A kit of election materials includes questions to ask candidates what they will do to reduce poverty and improve the lives of low-income people in Ontario. There are links to resources on specific poverty reduction campaigns – Ontario Needs a Raise Campaign, $10 Minimum Wage Now Campaign, Workers Need a Fair Deal Campaign, and the Respect Campaign.
http://www.incomesecurity.org/campaigns/ISACElectionMaterials.html

Eliminating Child Poverty
Campaign 2000 is a cross-Canada movement of over 120 organizations monitoring progress on the House of Commons resolution to eliminate child poverty. The Ontario campaign 2000 calls for each Ontario political party to comitt to a poverty reduction strategy. There are several resources available on the site including a 2007 Election pamphet containing tips on how to raise this issue with candidates and voters.
http://campaign2000.ca/on/

Under Funding of Child Care
The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care is calling on the provincial government to develop an early learning and child care system. The coalition advocates for government financing for public and not-for-profit programs; targets and timetables for achieving a high quality, universal system for all children; and an infrastructure to develop and support high quality; and well-trained and paid staff at all levels. Campaign tools include a Fax for Child Care Funding kit, media releases and a newsletter. One women ’s centre recommends "Woman Power and Politics" by Kira Heineck (2003), a guide to civics at all levels suitable for distribution to participants at election time.
http://www.childcareontario.org/

Please contact your local women's centre
for more information