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4 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, May 14, 1999 Social justice issues focus of Monday all-candidates meeting By C laudia D 'Souza SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Halton social services leaders believe the female vote in the June 3rd provincial election is crucial, but it's time women spoke out on the issues important to them. After all, women make up 52% of the population and have a keen perspective on some of the social justice issues all parties should be held accountable for. To that end, an all-candidates meeting hosted by the Halton Violence Prevention Council (HVPC) takes place at Glen Abbey United Church (Nottinghill Gate and Upper Middle Road) Monday, May 17th at 7 p.m. Candidates Gary Carr (Progressive Conservative), Kevin Flynn (Liberal), Sean Cain (NDP) Adrian Ratelle (Family Coalition Party) will answer questions posed by moderator, Jenny Amy. A public question and answer period follows. Theresa Greer, executive director of Halton Women's Place and HVPC co-chair, thinks it's time to ignore all the rhetoric and get down to the facts. "A lot of the cuts and reorganiza­ tion by the current government over the past four years have largely affected women," she notes. "Women still earn about 73% of what their male counterparts earn, but the majority of household responsibilities fall on their shoul­ ders. These include raising our chil­ dren and looking after the elderly, frail and sick. Let's look at the reali­ ties of the situation and put support systems in place that really work for women." No matter what the economic background; Greer feels the biggest obstacle facing her clients is pover­ ty, which is inextricably linked to two issues - adequate income and access to affordable housing. "Neither one is high on the cur­ rent government's agenda," Greer says. "All we've heard is 'let's get lazy people off welfare' but the majority of welfare recipients are single moms and children." Greer also questions the jobs the current government has created. She asks, whether they are full-time jobs that provide adequate income to support a family or are they part- time jobs with no benefits that create a new class of working poor? Joey Edwardh, executive direc­ tor of the Halton Social Planning Council concurs with Greer. "Low wage jobs changes people from being poor on social assistance into the working poor. We haven't resolved their material needs or the issue of providing opportunities like training and good education for their children. Health care, education, poverty, child care, housing - all of these issues are interrelated." Edwardh suspects major concern surrounds the current government's policies on supporting families. "My sense is social justice groups are less concerned with tax cuts and deficit reduction policies than they are with policies that changed the social services safety net," she says. "Women tend to use these services more than men, there­ fore major cutbacks will affect women, their families and their par­ ticipation in society." 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