Tea with a senator

Is there a more charming reminder of our history as a British colony than having tea with a Canadian senator?

This is what I found myself doing this morning. At the invitation of the University of Winnipeg’s Global College, I and a few other students sat down with Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth for a casual chat.

Ruth has had a long, distinguished career as a public figure and defender of human rights. She was a founding member of the Women’s Legal and Education Action Fund, and as the first openly lesbian Canadian senator, she has worked towards the protection and rights of LGBT people as well. 

Most recently, Ruth has been in the media spotlight because of the announcement and subsequent retraction of a Conservative government plan to strike a Parliamentary Committee to look into making Canada’s national anthem gender-neutral. It turns out that Ruth was the person who suggested to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that such a plan be included in the Throne Speech.

Over the course of about 40 minutes, Ruth illuminated us on, amongst other things, the inner workings of Parliament, and the reason why Harper Conservatives have been so quick to retract a number of their proposals as of late.

1. Regarding the gender-neutral anthem issue, Ruth blamed the national media for sensationalizing the issue. It was a minor addition to the Throne Speech, and Ruth thought that other, more important political matters should have been focused upon - such as Canada opening up its economy to increased foreign investment with regards to technology firms. She also stressed that what Harper proposed was not a return to the archaic language of the original anthem, but rather the striking of a Parliamentary Committee to look into the matter. After all parties received negative feedback regarding the issue, the Conservatives decided to drop it.

2. According to Ruth, the recent prorogation of Parliament is a “red herring.” In all, parliamentarians will end up losing about two weeks of time in Ottawa, as the Easter break has been cancelled this year. Ruth suspects that the prorogation occurred in order to allow Stephen Harper to glad-hand foreign leaders at the Vancouver Olympics. Canada wanting to regain a position upon the United Nations Security Council was listed as a reason why Harper was so eager to be there.

3. Ruth also spoke to the recent decision by the Conservatives to at first deny and then accept that contraception and family planning should be included in their proposed initiative to have the G8 prioritize maternal health in the developing world. Ruth suspects that other leaders from the G8 compelled the government to reverse its decision regarding the use of condoms, family planning education and other methods of contraception and pregnancy awareness.