Up for Debate challenges political leaders to address women’s rights

UFCW Canada is up for the debate. But what about the leaders of the federal political parties? Women in Canada have questions, and Up for Debate challenges our leaders to answer them.

The UFCW Canada National Council Women’s Advisory Committee and our community allies have endorsed Up for Debate — a national campaign to raise awareness about women’s rights in the 2015 Federal Election.

We are calling for all political parties to detail and debate their platform commitments to:

End women’s economic inequality: The federal political parties must address growing economic inequality and income gaps, including between women themselves. They must recognize women’s contributions to the economy and society, and fund public services and social programs that help lift women out of poverty, such as universal childcare, affordable housing, and fairer immigration policies.

End violence against women: We want the federal parties to take a comprehensive, well-resourced approach to addressing the root causes of violence against women in Canada, including the extreme levels of violence against Aboriginal women and girls. The parties should commit to providing support for survivors, holding perpetrators accountable, challenging sexism that perpetuates violence, and showing leadership on the international stage to end violence against women in all forms.

Support women’s leadership and organizations: We are calling on the parties to recognize the fundamental role that women’s organizations play in bringing about positive social change, and re-invest in Canada’s organizations and institutions that champion justice and equality for all women. The parties should commit to creating a flagship Canadian fund to support women’s organizations and women’s human rights defenders around the world.

Campaign update - We’re shifting gears

For the last several months, the Up for Debate campaign has been actively working with all political parties to host a nationally televised leaders’ debate on women’s issues. With your support, we’ve come close to making this debate a reality. Over 500,000 participants supported this concept through petitions.

As you may have heard in late August, the campaign received confirmation that two of the five major political parties would not participate in the debate we had originally imagined.

But, this is certainly not the end of the road. The issues we care about can, and will, be a major part of this federal election.

We need to keep that momentum going!

On Twitter, you can help that happen by clicking here to tweet the following message: "Leaders must put #women at the centre of #elxn42! #womenmatter #upfordebate"

What can you do?

Stand alongside over 175 women’s organizations and their allies to demand that the issues that women and girls care about be #UpForDebate in the 2015 Federal Election.

  1. SEND A MESSAGE to all of the party leaders by signing the petition below.

  2. ASK YOUR LOCAL CANDIDATES how they see their party addressing women's issues in this election. You can download our question guide to help you get started.

  3. GET ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA by downloading the Up for Debate wild postings and posting your support on Twitter and Facebook. Don’t forget to include UFCW Canada in your tweets (@ufcwcanada).