The ideology of a hot breakfast:

A study of the politics of the Harris governent and the strategies of the Ontario women' s movement by Tonya J. Laiiey

A thesis submitted to the Department of Political Studies in confonnity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada May, 1998

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This is a study of political strategy and the womn's movement in the wake of the Harris govemment in Ontario. Through interviewhg feminist activists and by andyzhg Canadian literature on the women's movement's second wave, this paper concludes that the biggest challenge the Harris govenunent pnsents for the women's movement is ideological. Stuart Hall's theories of dominant ideologies, hegemony and hegemonic projects are explored and applied to the Harris govemment's poiitics to argue this case. It is submitted that the social, political and economic transformations enacteci by this govemment depend on a particuiar ideological shiR The contents of Uiis shift are namd and discussed. The paper ends by suggesting how a counter-hegemonic politics for the women's movement couid be conceived. 1 thank Margaret Little for her patience, her copious notes, her devotion to her role as supervisor and for her constant encouragement.

1 thank Yves Starreveld for taking the time in his busy Me to read this thesis from beginning to end with great attention.

1 thank the women activists who made room in their demanding lives to talk to me. Table of Contents

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Itis tempting to mat the Harris government as a passing show of incornpetence and audacity.

After ali, this is a govemment whose Minister of Community and Social Services, Janet Ecker, defends the constriction of welfare regdations set out in Bill 142 as a necessary measure to ensure that certain groups of people, namely tourists and inmates, do not apply for welfm

(Armstrong, The Toronto Slcrr. October 2, 1997: A3). The former Minister of the same portfolio, David Tsubouchi, responded to the public outcry over the 21.6% slash to welfare rates with the advice that those suffering ftom welfare cuts should buy food in bulk, shop for reduced-price dented casand negotiate food prices with grocery store owners @are in Rdph et al. 1997: 21). Mike Harris hirnself supported comments by one of bis ministers who said that those who cannot aord licenseâ day care couid get informai care from "neighbours, relatives and other sitters" (Canadian Press Newswire Sept. 19, 1995).

These are patronieing comments which signal this govemwnt's disinterest in discussing social spending in public policy terxns. For the Harris govemment, social spending is a strictly political issue. This governent is intent on keeing the provincial state hmthe responsibility of defending social justice and providing social welfan. In one sense, the blatantiy political chafacter of the Hams govemment's decidedly clear-cut agenda is simpiistic due to its dearth of negotiable material; one ne& not sift tbrough policy papes to àecipher this govemment's plans. And yet, the Harris government' s politics is evasive; it disassociates words fiom intent with such temerity ihai the power to nason, to negotiate, to argue a political position, is stoien hmits cntics. In short, the Harris govenunent is practicing a politics of ideology, a politics that is transforming the very language of 'politics' in Ontario. This thesis aaalyzes the particular way the Harris govenunent's politics is operating ideologically and explores the challenges ihis C politics raises for the women's movement Exploring the effects of the Harris govemment on the politics of the women's movement is inspired by the foIiowing question: How does a movement whose core has grown and thrived on social, political and economic gains achieved through the formai politicai pathways of 'the state' continue to have faith in the institutions of govemment when the form, content and qualities of these institutions are being transformed in a manner that is antithetical to the movement's own goais and values? Put diffenntly, if an essentiai contingent of the women's movement stands for social change secured through the mechanisms of 'the state', what mechanisms of state power does the women's movement in Ontario now hop to harness in the name of social prognss and how?

In chapter one, culturai theorist Stuart Hall's defuiitioas of ideology and hegemony are employed to argue that the central challenge the women's movement confronts under the Harris govemment is ideological. It is argued that the women's movement is cumntiy threatened by a double-edged mythology - the mythology of neo-liberalism that negiects gender in its crude . economic formula and the mythology of a form of conservativism that identifies women as the caretaicers of the family and the now-ovefflowing basket of social issues that were oniy receutly the responsibiiity of the state. Hali's particdm interpretation of ideology and hegemony is esseatid to the logic of this argument. His theoretical insightp into the practice of ideology help to explain why studying the ideological repertoire of the Harris govemment and not simply recording this govemment's dismantling of social structures is cntical to strategies of resistance and change.

The second chapter of this thesis is based on inte~ewswith activists who idenify themselves with the Ontario women's movement. They were consulted specincaiiy for their interpretations of the Harris govemment's politics and for their ideas about political resistance and change under

Th wordr ne~~~~~l~efYativismand nco-UbenlUm sic seldom defincd and arc, in fact, 0themployed intcrchangcably. For the purpose ofthis sntdy, th& meanings arc taken fiom Stuart Han's TAc Hanf Rdto Reruwtzi: ~che~Md the Crisis ofk Lcft (1988). Sce the discoagion on page 23 of tbis chapttr. this govemment. The sample of women was selected to reflect a range of political identities and interests but does not presume to speak for the diversity of the women's movement as a whole. Each hterviewee was given the opportunity to review ber commeats in the context of this work aad to suggest revisions. The decision to conduct interviews refiects a centrai goal of this thesis: to challenge the practices of the women's movement with the insights of contemporary political theory and, in turn, to challenge political theory with the contemporary experiences of fe&st activism in Ontario.

The final chapter of this thesis revisits Stuart Haii's theory of ideology both mon broadly and intimately in order to refme the meaaing of a hegemonic politics and to suggest what a counter- hegemonic politics for Ontario's women's movement might look like. The women's movement and the ideological politics of the Harris goverrunent

The Women's Movement 'The women's movement" is a convenient umbrella phrase which covers any and ali organizations dedicated to improving the social, economic and political status of women. Of course what is meant by "improving" is contentious. The women's movement is not a single organized effort; it is many. In FeminLrt Organizing for Change, Nancy Adamson et al. distinguish a movement fiom an organization in the following manner: A movement ...has an amorphws or fluid organizational quality ; episodically, a more stable form might emerge. What holds a . movement together is more ideological in nature than what is necessary to sustain an organization (1988: 230).

The character and substance of a movement, then, is mutable. And, what unifies the people and organizations who see themseLves as part of a movement is a distant goal, larger and more abstract than the mandates they work within and towards fiom day to day. The women's

movement is imagineci in such a way when it is appiied as iui umbrda phrase in the discussion that foiiows.2

It shouid k notai that the women's movement studicd hmdoes not indude collscNlitive woma's groups like the mti-abortionist REAL women. The womcn's movcrnent disnisrcd is the feminist movement. Tbiaking of the Literature on the women's movement in Canada identifies two distinctive waves in the history of the movement's politicai activism. The htwave is generally considered to be when women organiz,ed for suffrage, property rights and basic political recognition in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Adamson et al. 1988:3). The second, which can be dated from the onset of new women's organizations in the 1960's to the present (Black 1988: 83). is the subject of inquiry. This wave is marked by an explosion of political activity involving and resulting in the outgrowth of state-directed, state-hded and state-belonging women's organizations as well as the development of women's groups and activities occupied with culhiral issues of identity and not directly with state activity.3 State-directed activity includes lobbying for policy changes, contesting laws, seeking hdsand denouncing systemic constraints such as the lack of women's npresentation in legislanins. Examples of state-fundeci advocacy groups are the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) and the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care. A state-belonging fom of activism designates political bodies like the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women (CACSW) and the Ontario Women's Directorate, whose composition and mandate are definecl by the state.4 The activism of cultural identity compnhends groups and activities concemeci with, for example, the Life circumstances and experiences of black women, immigrant women, nual women, disabled women and lesbians (Wie and Ristock 1991: 12-15).

The central argument of this chapter foliows fiom two relateà premises:

women's movemcnt as the feminist movernent, accommodates the diversity of women's groups working towards improving the rives of women and excludes right-wing women's organîzations hmthe definition (Luxton 199724)- Adamson et ai. charactcrize the second wave of the WO~~CL'Smovement as having: chai1enged images of womtn and fcminity; the sexual division of labour in the home and the workplace; outdatecl laws and inadcquate social senrices; the organization and deiivery of hdth cace to women; and the reproduction of stctcotypic choices for guis and womcn within the educatrcatronsptem,..uncovered and natned violence against women...identifitd the discruninaton women fact in the worlcp lace... exposcd the hete~stxismand tacism tbat penradc the enth social system (1988:3)* Tûe CACSIlV was closcd by the Chrciien hiin 1995. Its huictions weia a bc coiwtidiod into the Striais of Women Canada - tbe administrative unit which supports the Minister Responsibie fm the Status of Womcn. 7 (i) Concepts iike "hegemony" and "ideology" are employed in feminist theorizing about the state as a way of acknowledghg that there an perspective-limiting forces prohibiting the women's movement's diverse goals from king widely grasped and accepted; how these so-caiied forces work, however, receives littie attention.

(ü) Since, as it shall ôe argued, the Harris govemment's politics rely so huidamentally on ideology, the women's movement is challenged to think in cultural political ternis rather than in govemmental, bureaucratic ones. This requires letting go of previous understandings of the state as a negotiating, poiicy-making terrain when social policies can be implemeoted and then expanded through public pressure and other fomof advocacy .

Two further arguments serve to place the Harris govemment in a political context where its politics can be seen as both fdarand particular:

(i) The Harris restrucnuing program is a cnide version of a decisive economic agenda established federdy in the mid-198û's, an agenda that believes Ui the f'ree market and the govemment's role in hingit. Thus, the devolution of federal powers over social spending has facilitateci this govemmnt's harvesting of provincial fun& formerly allocated to social programs.

(ii) Bob Rae's New Democratic Party (NDP) govemment in Ontario (199 1-1995) promised to fight the federai agenda by using its provincial powers to structure an economy reliant upon heaithy social programs, healthy wages and social equality. It is argued that the Rae govemment fded to begin to institute such a program ptimariiy because it did not cany the political support that would have been nquired to do so. Insteaci, the Rae govemment executed a neo-liberal agenda through many of its.socia1and economic policies - the most egregious exampie being the Social Contracts The NDP did, however, adhere to a language of social democracy, a language substantiated, if only minimally, by policies Like employment equity. Still, this language preserved and fed a broad debate over the social and economic role of the state, a debate that granWL social welfare and social justice a legitimate, negotiable, public profile. The Harris govenunent does not speak such a language.

A glimpse at the strategic theory of second wave women's movement literanire in Canada, illustrates that a theme as central as the debate between mainseeaming and disengagement is rendered inelevant by the politics of the Harris govemment. Linda Briskin argues that aii femlliist practice smggles with the tension between mainstreaming and disengagement (Briskin in Connelly and Armstrong 1992:272) and, that the relation of particuiar cumnts of feminism - socialist, liberal, manrist - to these opposing strategic poles is "more a matter of degree than a rigid separation" (Ibid: 280). According to Brisicin, disengagement involves cnticizing the system hma standpoint outside of it with the goal of forming alternative structures and ideologies. Mainstreaming is deemed by Briskin to be the strategic outcome of a group's desire to reach out to the majority of the population and to thereby achieve popular and practical solutions to specific issues. A politics of rnainstrearning engages with major social institutions like the famiiy, the workplace, the educationai system and the state whüe a poiitics of disengagement is precisely about evading the structural and ideological clutches of such institutions (Ibid: 272).

5 The NDPs Saciai Contract dcscriks a bill ppUKd in Iuly of 1993 that Iegis1ated a wage mil-brk for Ontario's civil SCN(UL~Sin excbange far job security, supcrsoding al1 existing labour acts and graning the govcrnment the unilateral powcr to deciarc an agrecmcnt lcliched in any sedm of the public da?.For an account of the politics surroundhg the passage of this biIl sa WaiJcom lm 141-146. The ubiquitous tension between sûategies of mainstreaming and disengagement arises out of the political dilemmas encountered by each strategic tack. Mainstreaming, for example, risks the appropriation and resultant dilution of the movement's goals by major social institutions. If and when institutions do respond to public pressure, one has to contend with the consequences of such responses which can be more than disappointing (Findlay, RFRlDRF 17 no. 3, 1988: 20; Briskin in Wine and Ristock 199 1: 33-34).6 Conversely, advocates of disengagement habituaiiy fmd that insufficient resowces and public support defeat the pursuit of viable aitematives. A strategy of disengagement must ultimateIy confront the state since its institutions, laws and services are the principle organizers of social and economic life. Thus, determinhg wbat counts as king outside the state is confusing since the social and economic effects of the state's decision-mal9ng powers pervade all aspects of daily life at some level. The state's jurisdiction over and access to public resources is, indisputably, a major source of power. Furthemore, alternatives to state-funding and state-regdation risk lending themselves to the "fiee-market" politics of pnvatization and, thus, to the neo-liberal goal of removing social responsibility from the purview of the state. This risk arises from the fact that an alternative source of funding is rudimentary to disengagement and that both the neo-liberal position and the disengagement one are highly citical of state controls impinging upon their respective activities (bid: 3 1). Of course the political strategy of the women's movement has not ken an exacting choice between mainstreaming and disengagement. This is clearly demonstrated by the research collected in Andrews and Rogers' Women and the State in which the editors conclude that the interaction between the state and Canadian women is most accurately perceived as "an unstated alliance" between women working within the state structwz and those working within the women's

A case in pint ïs the establishment of the CACSW(1973). Its original mandate was "to bring beforc the governmtnt and the public, ma- of intetest and conceni to womenw(Gellec-Schwartz 199543). It was intendcd to bc a goverment-fiindecl structure whose politicai deand fiinction mnained autonomous. However, as Gelter- Schwartz argues, the partisan nature of its appointmcnts and the fat ktit ccptd to the miniPtu indi4that the CACSW was independent in tbc eyes of the government ody and not in the eyes of the women's movemcnt (Ibid:45). movement - "a creative, tacit coalition of 'insiders' and 'outsiders"' (Andrews and Rodgers 1997: xiv).

Even so, although cooperation between insiders and outsiders may well exist under the Hanis government, the distinction between the inside and the outside is next to immaterial. Politicai negotiation to nfotm or even to restore social institutions simply does not make sense under a govemment that is rapidly attackhg the very structurai and ideologicd life of health care, ducation, workers' rights, social assistance and employmeat equity. Whether or not the women's movement engages with major social institutions (mainstrearning) or strives to create alternative politicai stnictures and iâeologies hman outside critique and standpoint (disengagement) is extraneous. After all, the Harris govemmeat has disengaged itseif hm extracabinet political communications and has thus disengaged any attempts at a politics of mainstnaming by sociaiiy progressive groups and movements. To work from within this government may stdi be effectuai; to work in cooperation with this government is to engage in a politics that is regressive.

The questions surrounding where and how the women's movernent is acting and might begin to act mon effectively, is the subject matter of the following two chapters. It is addressed here because it is argued in this chapter that wideaing the critical lens of the women's movement is requisite to conceiving of political strategies that speak to the character of the Harris government's power. Recently, feminist activists and scholars have supporied the need for such a study. They have called for an attention to the hindrances of larger forces, mdngnot how the mechanics of the state contribute to women's subordhate status as citizens, but rather how public conceptions of the role of the state influence and control social, econornic and political possibilities. For example, Judy Rebick argues that globalization and the rise of what she calls neoconservarivism have rendered the single-issue politics of the 1980's unpopuiar - seerningiy excessive. She therefore insists that one must examine the oved pichut aad leam to act on the

political mity of single-issues so that they are m> longer perceived as a series of isolated and Il petty demands (Rebick and Roach 1996: 9 1). Janine Brodie is more specinc in contendhg that it is the passing of the welfare state that has displaced maay of both the sites and objects of politicai stniggie for the women's movement in Canada. She argues that the political and economic eaaformations now tahg place have been enacted throughout the social structure through neo-liberai impositional claims. She submits that a feminist politics of restructuring must begin by contesthg the neo-liberai orthodoxy (Brodie 1996: 80). Linda Bnskin argues that politicai constraints and infiuences such as the nature of public consciousness, the state of the women's movement and other progressive movements, the degree of state repressiveness and the state of the economy are generaliy underestimated in the study of feminist practice (Bnskin in Co~eliyand Armstrong 1992:280).

The above insights directly reflect the essence of the question that incited this study, namely: How do and how might the members of the women's movement respond to the pnsent Ontario govement's politicai program in which Mike Hamis and his cabinet are tearing the provincial state fkom the ideological association of social nsponsibiîity and from the actual funding, administration and delivery of social services? The raising of social consciousness, the defence of social seMces and the drive towards their expansion constitute, af'raii, the CO- goals of 'the women' s movement' .

Amid this cnticism of the women's movement's current direction. it is important to recognize that the movement has achieveâ a great deal. It is clear, for instance, that the women's movement succeeds in delivering a range of social se~cesto women that are not behg delivered by the state, such as child care services, shelters for battered women, employment- seeking facilities, job training and health services. The women's movement also raises public awareness about gender inequalities and pressures govemments to make socially progressive policies by organizîng national and regional displays of public discontent? The movement has

For an socount of the Iegislative, constitutionai and judicial landmarks of Canadian femînist activism sec Wine and Ristock 1991: 1-2. not been successhil, however, at its most ambitious aim. It has not maaaged to commit the state to providing social welfan for women and children and to legislating social and economic policy that wouid reduce women's disproportionate reliance upon social assistance.' If this is indeed still the primary goal of the women's movemeat, it mut be made conceivable. ûtherwise, alternate goals deserve consideration.

As Brodie, Briskin and Rebick have argued, the big picture is becoming everrnore trwblesome to dismiss because it is the only show in town, the only show that can afford to nui. One may choose to watch the smaîl screen, but one will find only a smalier surface area of the same material. Thinking in terms of the big pichue does not necessitate taking big action; it does not nsaict political movement to that which is nvolutionary. It does aid in the search for the sort of political action that is most likely to crack the surface of the toughest barrier of aU - the deficit of our political imaginations.

The Role of Ideology Before combing the ideological portfolio of the Harris govemment, the very concepts of "state" and "ideology" require some scrutiny. For in order to discern how the Harris govemment has redefined the state in congruence with a certain ideological profile, one must consider what then is to redefine and how the tdsof redennition operate.

The perception of the state as an entity that fuactions in a systematic way according to a set of des derived hma set of values, is evident in women's movement litetam in which large- sale social change is strategized.9 In other words, the "state" is seen to represent an unspecified

* Brigitte Kitchai describes womcn's dirpmpmrtiotlatc ftiiance on the statc in the following Ger="Because of women's continuhg primary mpoasibiiity for child care, womcn cither do not participate in îhc woMorce or work part-tirne. As a result, their pay scales and job advancements fa11 considcrabty below men's, or they are dependent on the earnings of a man in theh lives, and failing that, they becorne depcndents on the state, Employment and pay quity are important measmes su~portiagwornen's efforts b gain self-reliaacen (Kitchen in Ralph et ai. 1997: 106). Sec &O Thelma McCormick (199 1: 3). Adsnison a ai. draw a theotetial distinction betwee~ihc state and the govanment: "Pbe govanment is the rite of the Iegislative and electoral proccss whewthe state is "a powerfut and cornplex force that intervents daiIy in ail citizen's lives...includes agencics such as cMd weIfiuc, immigration and housing and-the policc" (1988: 112-13). permanence. This perception informs political strategy found in women's movement literature. The Harris govemment affronts this ima8intid perpetuity with its onslaught of poîicy changes and its determined practice of instituthg them. For example, one may well ask of the Harris govemment: What is the legislative process? Is it the stuff of The Savings and Restructuriag Act (Bill 26 - the Omnibus Bili), pushing 44 pieces of legislation through the provincial legislature including the introduction of three acts and the elimination of two? 1s it about ignodng the results of a referendum on the amalgamation of the pater Toronto area in which 76 pucent of the votes opposed it? 1s it about tirne allocation motions limiting the negotiation period of the stakeholders of Bills 136 and Bill 1601 Does the legislative process consist of no mon than the minimal amount of extnicabinet debate, accountability and consultation that the governing party cm legaily and politically get away with?

Under the Harris govemment, even strategies critical of the state es an established site where democratic - representative - decision-making takes place, lose their devance. For example, in Ferninikt Organizhg for Chge,Adamson et al, argue that there is an "ideology of change" at work in the formation and maintenance of public perceptions of govemment which ties down the possibilities for making change, in non-institutional ways, with mtricting threaûs. This is not an example of how Adamson et al. imagine the state as a permanent set of structures. Rather, their argument follows fiom how they imagine that the public perceives the state as a permanent set of both neutral and npresentative stmctures. As a result, Adamson et ai. make the related argument that the hctions of govemment aeed to be exposed in order to disrupt the public's

Melanie Randali defines the state as "an intricate system of power limitcd not only to the different Ievels of government, but also including the buteaucracies, the militaq, tht police force, the vast network of state-cun se~cts,the cducational system, the judiciary and the criminal justice systcm". She wanis against ascribing a unity and cohcrcnct to the conceptuabation of the state, which dasnot exist (RFWDW 17 no3.1988: 14). These are bdand flexible definitions of tht statc and yet they cater to a conmete conception of the cstabüshcd institutional components of the state- Of comsc one bas to be able to envision the statc as standing for something at any givcn time- And, thete am ccminiy enduring state stmctms which Randal1 and Adamson et al- name, Nevertheles, it is becoming cvermore impoctant to tmûasmd these stnictures as impennanent and ttansftmnative and, thus, to consider not oniy what thcy have corne to repesent, but what one wants thcm to coatinue to be or to come to mean. misconception of the state as representative and democratic (Adamson et al. 1988: 140).10 Exposing the Harris govemment for what it really is, however, is akin to exposing the human rights abuses of Pepsi Cola in Burma. It is not a complete waste of tirne, but it will not put Pepsi out of business.

This political strategy of exposure rests on two nlated assumptions: (i) that the public believes in government/stak neuuality, and (ii) that the public is concemed to preserve the principle tenets of liberal democracy. Adamson et al. conclude from these propositions that the general public is the keeper of political justice and social values and of a static conception of a neuval state. Thus, they advocate a strategy of exposing the inadequacies of representative dernocracy with the purpose of legitimating, in the public consciousness, other structurai routes to change (Adamson et al. 1988: 159).

But what happeas when the govemment itself exposes the inadequacies of representative democracy? What if the govemment is indeed the perpetrator of the public's acceptance of the inadequacies of representative democracy? In this case - the case of the Harris government - exposing the limitations of democracy "to legitimate, in the public consciousness, other structurai routes to change" is sqertluous. For if the limitations of representative democracy have not been sufficientiy exposed by this govement's very own behaviour, then what this strategy intends to expose as hadequate must be far worse than that The problem is not that the

'O This b che fouxtû thmaci in Adamson et d!s thcoy of the "ideology of cbangen. Tbe fint becihrradr ue: (i) beiief in individuatism, Cu) a focus on changing attitudes and, (iii) a fear of change - both instillai and exploitcd by the imagery of ncommunismn.T~IC fourth thrtad is the most noteworthy here although the second is also intcresting in the context of this discussion For exarnple, naming "a focus on changing attitudesnas a thread tying dom the possibiiities for making change in non-institutional ways is arrived at hmthe conviction that it is idcaiistic to think chat changing attitudes towards race, gen&r and class rhrough education can eliminatc social ptejudice and correct substantive inequaiitics bctwcen individuais and groups. Adamson et al. insist, ratbtr, that "[iln the long nin, changing attitudes is insunicient to cram a major social traasfomation - that is, mawiai and stnictwal rcorganhtion - dthough it might be fernit ground to inspire the process of major social changen(Adamson et al* 1988: 145)- As it will bocome evident in the ptocetding arguments, howevcr*the stniggle over ideologies and thcii importance in coastnrcîing the fiaa~eworLsin whicb we üve our livcs is in an entirely diff'ereat politicai realrn than is the idea of educatiag the pubiic. Educating the public in the hop of chaoging gendattitudes towds gender, race and class is cmddy hadequate to ttie achievcment of a major sacial tmdiOIllllltiont Bowevcr, caltiwïng a fdepoliticai ground that chaüeagcs the dominant one, a ground upon which tbe proms of majar social change codd be practkâ, may indced be suffiCient to involte tbe process of major social transformation* public has mythologized the grand tradition of democratic government. Rather, it would seem that the values of democracy, equaiity and nsponsible govenunent are on triai. Therefore, what needs to be exposed are the motives béhind this trial and the npucussions of its outcorne, not the undemocratic and unrepresentative character of the Harris govemmnt.

Another problematic presupposition is the mental separation of the state fiom the public. When the state and the public are discussed as U~COM~C~~entities, the expianatory conundmm of who is leading whom ensues. 1s the govemment responding to what the public wants or is the public confonning to the dictatedagenda of the government? The conundm is at least partialiy dodged when one recogaizes that the leaders of a democratic state are representative. This does not mean that they are in political agreement with those they clairn to represent, it does mean that they aiiga themselves with those who see them as their representatives. For instance, when former Minister of Social and Comrnunity Services, David Tsubouchi, announced on September 15th, 1995 that those suffering from cuts to welfare should buy food in bulk and shop for reduced-price dented cans, he was speaking to an audience @are in Ralph et al. 1997: 2 1). His voice was representing a societal view that if people receiving welfare (or hopefuî welfare claimants) had the discipline and perspicacity to budget their money. they would have enough to live on. Tsubouchi wouid not make this public statement if he did not believe that his words echoed the views of at lest some faction of the public.

The central point here is that the politics of the HamS govemment flies in the fact of the idea of the state as that which operates under an unduly pristine public reputation ad,thus, needs to be exposed for what it actuaUy is: insuniciently democratic Le., insufficiently neutral in its administration, insufncientiy representative in its politics. When Adamson et ai. (1988) prescribe exposing the "inadequacies of tepresentative dernoc~acy"in order '%O legitimate, in the public consciousness, other stnicniial routes to change" one must ask What they mean. What are the inadeqacies of representative democracy? For example, if one considers them to be the failure of the govemmnt to adequately represeat social needs and provide for them, legitimating 16 "other structural routes to change" suddenly translates into more than the legitimation of ways to change structures from outside the boundaries of state institutions. In other words, legitimating "other structurai routes to change" now involves legitimating, in the public coasciousness, othu meaniags of the state or, more generaüy, of orgaaized collective life. These rneanings can be broad. The United Nation's Declaration of Economic, Social and Culturai Rights, for example, includes the right to work, the right to fair wages and an adequate standard of living, the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of al1 economic, social and cultural rights and the Party States' cornmitment to make higher eâucation accessible to all, '%y every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of fra education" [Doc. 3 1.

AIRES12200 Ao,16 Dec. 19661 1. In this case, the question of "the inadquacies of repnsentative democracy" is not merely a debate over the attributes or respective Iegitimscies of formal versus informai politics. The issue becomes social justice which can be fought for successhiily or uasuccessfully on any terrain. Thenfore, it is not knowing what "the state" reaily is that is critical to organizing for change. After aii, the grand and complex identity of "the state" is forever in flux. What matters is howing what the majority of the public understands or expects "the state" to be and how this understanding is king cuitivated at different periods of time, according to what sets of values and toward what goals.

These 1stremarks in no way pretend to act as a prescription for organizhg change. They are intended to emphasize the impermanence and indeterminacy of what is 'the state", of what are democratic institutions. This is not a revelation. If the members of the women's movement perceived the state as determined, they would never have attempteci to reform it. What is less obvious, is that while it was once possible to challenge the values of the state with a certain set of shared values upheld in at least the rhetoric of govenunent communications to and with the public, it is no longer. The threatened institutions of the welfan state itseif are king chaiienged

Tnr United Nawm undHunrun Rights 1945-1995. The Unitcd Nations Blue Book. Saia Volume W. Department of Public Motmafion. United Nations, New York 1995. to justify themselves according to an arrangement of values that is radically different from that according to which they were conceived. In Me1 Watkins' words, "[olnce upon a time we were titizens'; now we're 'consumers' and 'taxpayers' and who would be foolish enough to prefer the latter?" (Watkins 1996: 29).

The Fraser Institute's study of Ontario's welfan system from 1985- 1994 exemplifies this manner of welfare-state scmtiny in its address of "the taxpayer" as the political subject as distinct €rom "the citizen": Serious questions need to be answered. 1s be system running efficiently? 1s it a balanceci system that properly balances the rights of the recipient with the rights of the taxpayer? Is the taxpayer getting his money's worth? Are welfan policies achieving their stated goals? (Sabatini and Nightingale 1996: 10)

How does one measure the rights of the recipient against the rights of the taxpayer? Are they not usuaily one and the same? If not, is it not understd that a taxpayer today might be a recipient tomorrow - hence the words "social security"? The questions posed by the Fraser Institute are not simply ones that have ôeen carelessly overlooked by past governments. These questions were not at one tirne considered relevant to the enduring life of the welfare system. They represent a new fonn of inquiry altogeber. The masculine personal pronoun proceeding the word taxpayer is also noteworthy. It is a not so subtie indication of the social order attached to this form of economic scrutiny inen,the economic citizen - the breadwinner - is male.

A similar observation is made by Hugh Mackenzie when he comrnents on how the language used by Canada's business community to descriil the country's economic position relative to that of the rest of the world changed - perhaps imperceptibly to most but not insipnificmtly - over the

Whereas the talk used to be about productiviily and how we neexied to continue to improve it to maintain Canada's standard of Living, it is now about competitiveness and how we need to improve it to maintain the job sec* of Canadian workers. ...Unfottunately, we are not deaiing with an innocent exercise in semantics. The two concepts contemplate radidy different ecmomic circumstances for Canadian workiag people (Mackenzie in Drache 1992: 5). The structural changes that accompany this ostensibly semantic one are discussed when the Harris govemment is placed in an historical political context later in this chapter.

A theory of "ideology" is integral to the arguments presented thus far. Stuart Hail defues ideology as "those images. concepts and premises which provide the frarnework through which we represent, interpret, understand and 'make sense' of some aspect of social existence" (Hail

198 1; Morley and Chen 1996: 49). in Hall's work on political ideology and more specificaiiy on the politics of Thatcherism, he intefprets and describes how ideologies work. Hall occupies what has kencalled a theoretical rniddle ground in the broad field of cultural studies where theories of ideology fmd their home. This reputation springs pnmarily hmthe thesis that "rather than being irnposed from above, the power of the dominant class if it is to be capable of legitimacy and self-reproduction, must in some sense be acceptable to the domhated classes; power must be 'popuiar"' (Frow 1995: 70). Once again, a review of Haü's theontical insights into the practice of ideology shouid help to clarify why studying the ideological repertoire of the Harris govemment and not simply recording this governrnent's disrnantihg of social structures is critical to strategies of mistance and change.

Ideological fiameworks are always present and, arguably, requisite to the realization of a public Me. It is argued here that the particular idedopicai existence of the Harris govemment's politics challenges the wornen's movement - broadly speaking - in a way that the movement has not been challengeci before. The political themes may well be familiar ones, but the nanation of the characters, the plot and the setting is unique. And, at least part of understanding the distinction between what is familiar politics in Ontario and what is peculiar to the Harris government, cornes from understanding more specificaüy how ideologies both portray and coastruct change.

Four relatai arguments have been introduced-•

(i) The govenunent and the public are one and the same. In even the barest sense of repnsentative democracy, a majority of elected seats elicits the government and 19 legitimates it in the public's eyes. The Harris govemment represents, therefore, not only a redefinition of government, it also signals a transformation in the politicai culture of the electorate.

(ii) The Harris govemment is changing the face and expression of Ontario's institutions through its policy-making decisioas while at the same time articulating a particular set of social values that sanction these reforms.

(iii) The women's movement is chalfenged by the Harris government because this govemment represents, advocates and practices a character of government whose values and principle concems are incongrnous and even, irnconcilable with the unifving principles and values of the mernbers of the movement. For example, the second wave of the women's movement has preoccupied itseif primariiy with intra-welfan state issues, acting with and within the state to nform the state and pnsuming that social gains for women wodd occur progressively.

(iv) Concepts like "hegemony" and "ideology" are employed in feminist theorizing about the

state as a way of acknowledging that then are large perspective-limiting forces prohibithg the women's movement's diverse goals kom king widely grasped and accepted; how these forces work, however, receives little attention.

Tackling the fourth argument by theorizing the concepts of "ideology" and b'hegemony" promises to shed light on the remaining three.

Ideology according to Hall Theones of ideology found in Maaist writings have reiied hdyupon the distinction between negative and positive concepts of ideology. According to a negative conception, ideoiogies are a deceptive means of perpetuating power. They are a way of ensuhg that the "masses" continue to support and believe in a social system they understand to serve them, or at least, to k the only possibility for organizing the lives of millions. The huidamental ciifference between this

negative conception of ideology and a positive one, is that the negative functions within the reaim of psycbology (determinhg consciousness and unconsciousness) and defines ideologies as tools of deception whereas the positive conception places ideology in the less determinhg space of the social and defines ideologies as tools of persuasion. This paper adopts Hali's conception of ideology, emphasizing political agency and historical specificity, maintainhg that ideologies are indeterminate - never secure, always subject to contestation and change - formulated to suit (both to dress and to accommodate) the economic circumstances andor conditions of the time.12

Accordùig to Hall, it is not simply ideologies that are indeterminate. The political subjects to whom ideologies speak are also unresolved as to both their political süipes and, more notably, their political identities. Hall argues for a discursive conception of ideology meanhg that ."ideology (like language) is conceptualized in terms of the articulation of elemnts.... îT]he ideological sip.. can be discursively articulated to construct new meanings, connect with different social practices, and position social subjects diffenntly" (Hall 1988: 9). To Hall, ideologies are Living, organic. He explains: 1 do not believe that organic ideologies are logicaiiy consistent or homogeneous; just as 1do not believe the subjects of ideology are unined and integrai "selves" assigned to one political position. In fact, they are fractured, always "in process" and "strangely composite" (Ibid: 10).

Therefore, ideologies evolve and, in tum, change how political subjects undetstand their social and political contexts and their positions as subjects within it.

12 Concuning with a positive conception of ideology means accepting that it is no

Hal recogaizes, however, that there is a materid limit to ideology, that ideologies cannot exist absolutely detached and contrary to material realities." There is, then, a son of brrakiag point after which ideology simply must be made accountable to material life. Hall articulates this material breaking point as "conditions of existence". He submits that "alihough they [conditions of existence] cannot fm or guarantee particular outcornes, [they] set limits or constraints to the process of articulation itself" (Ibid)."

l3 Tbus he does not believc that "just anything can k Iirticuiated with anything clse and, in that ocnse~top[s]short before what is samethes deda 'Mydiscuftivc' position" (Hail 1988: 10). l4 Hdl maintab, noaiethetes, iho "pviousIy but powerhily forged on dceply mistant to change, and do estabüsh iiiof tendency and bow~daritswhich give to the fields of poütics and idcology ihe 'open The concept of articulation is criticai to Hall's interpretation of ideology and hegemony. Ideological transformations are prirnarily achieved through "disarticulation-teafticulation9'(Hd 1988: 10). Articulation is the very process of connecting social, cultural, politicai material to social, cultural, political relationships and structures already formeâ. It is the very act of creating comections between things otherwise not co~ected,connections leading to a new bbcommon sense", to a new cultural understanding of wbat is right, wrong, just, practical, acceptable, of what is "nahuauy" so. Articulation, then, is "not just a thing (not just a comection) but a process of creating connection, much in the same way that hegemony is not domination but the process of creating and maintainhg consensus or of cwrdinating interests" (Daryl Slack in Morley and Chen 1996: 114).

To HU,hegemony - a concept he derives from Antonio Gramsci's P&on Notebooks - is not synonymous with dominant ideology.l5 Hegemony is both a political practice and a strategy particular to a period in tirne; it refers to an historically specifc political struggle through which a particular social bloc pursues the broad range of its social projects (Hail in an interview with Lawrence Grossberg in Morley and Chen 1996: 150). More broadly, hegemony is the process by which ideologies become "cornmon sense". Whereas articulation nfers to the particular process of Wgsocial, cultural, political materials, hegemony refers to the mobilization of such articulations (ideologies) in defense of their tenuous, self-defenseless logic. It is the unifying and re-unifying of ideologies that disaiiows other ways of making sense of the big picture. Furthennore. the site and stakes of a hegemonîc stniggle cmot be located as they are everywhere preseat throughout the social formaton and thus work hmno single, accessible location. Also, and relatedly, hegernony is not something that is ever achieved, not even momentarily. As a consequence, hegemony is daunting in that it pervades all social relations and promising in that the struggie is never won @id: 163).

structure' of a formation and not simply the si& into an Mtcand never ending pluraiity" (Hail 1988: 10). l5 In an inte~ewwith Lawrence Omasbetg, Haü states: "PeopIeiiUr about hegcmony*..as the cquivalent of idtofogicai domination. 1have tried to fight against this intecpretation for yeacs" (Morley and Cbca 1996: 149). Distinguishiag between what is commoniy understood as popular support for a governing party and its policies - popular politics - and what Hall refers to as "populism", elucidates the pervasive character of an ideologicai struggle. "Populism" implieS much more than that which is nquired to win an election. It is the very project of grounding neo-liberal policies in common sense, experience and practical moralism. It is the construction of a particular definition of "the people" out of the fray of classes, groups and interests (Hall 1988: 71).

Ideological politics are, in this sense, not simply a way of perceiving and understanding politicai issues, but a way of fostering a political culture so that people corne to live in a certain way and to accept this way of living as somehow "naturai". For example, getting people to believe that king employed is about being a seif-respecting, hardworking individual and not about the availability or unavailability of jobs determinecl in large part by econornic policies iike the North-American Free Trade Agreement. This effect of ideology is wd.i beyond that of winning a debate or "bringing people on side". In the successful practice of hegemonic politics, there are no sides. Haii argues that Thatcherism's political potency rested with this very lmowledge of the political centrality of ideology, and States that: "[tJhis is why [Thatcherism] believ[ed] that the conceptions which organize the mass of the people are worth struggiing over, and that social subjects can be 'won' to a new conception of themselves and society" (Ibid: 10).

Hali describes Thatcherite populism" as not only the language with which the Thatcher governent summarized the politicai issues it faceci, but more sipnincantly, as how this description became the description, the way things were and the tenns according to which things had to be resolved. The crisis had begun to be "Lived" in its terms. This is a new khd of taken-for-grantedness; a reactionary common sense, hamessed to the practices and solutions of the radical ri@ and the class forces it now aspires to npresent (Hall 1988: 48).

Therefore, ideologies make day to day life sense of one's circumstances such that one begins to Live the ideology as iife rather than living the achiai circumstances of one's existence. Hall assesses "Thatcherite populism" to be a "particulacly rich mix" because: "[ilt combines the resonant themes of organic Toryism - nation, family, duty, authority, standards, traditionalisms - with aggressive themes of a revived neo-liberalism - self-interest, cornpetitive individualism, anti-statism"(1bid: 48). In this study, the Harris goverment's articulation of what constitutes for women, a doublecdged mythology - neo-liberalism's crude and genderless economic formula and a version of neo-conservativism that identifies women as the caretakers of the family and of the now-overfïowing basket of social issues that were until recently the responsibility of the state - is said to echo this "particularly nch mu" of organic Toryism [neo-conservativism] and neo- liberalism which Hall describes. The substance and charecter of this double-edged mythology is examined in the final section of the chapter.

The Ontario Context Prospecting the Harris govemment for ideological landmarks begins with an analysis of how the politics of the Harris govemment differs fiom that of the NDP. This way, the obstacles that the Harris goverment presents for the women's movement cati be seea as particular even though the political issues have essentialiy remahed the same. The purpose of this discussion of the NDP is to demonstrate why the effort to institutionaüze governmentai responsibility for social justice and social weIfare considerate of women's specifïc needs and not exploitaiive of wornen's traditionaîîydefiined social roles as caregivers, is a diffetent sort of struggie under the Harris govenunent than it was under the NDP. It is argued that the Harris govemment's political program is indeed a struggle over "the popular" - "a matter of the articulateci relations, not oniy withh civii society ... but between the state, the economic sector and civil society" (Grossbtrg in Morley and Chen 1996: 162).

This is not a comparative study of the Harris and Rae govemments' economic policies, although economic policy is most ceaainly implicated. It is an inquhy into the performance and expression of the two govemments' mandates. Performance refers to what means how the respective governments act as govemments do and how they do it, expression to how they articulate theh goals and construe their roles as representatives and leaders.

The NDP govemment in Ontario (199 1-95) spoke the language of social justice and social weifare aithough its policies rarely realized the material goals of this message and, in fact, ofien attained contrary ones. As a consequence, the Rae governent bas been accused of abandonhg its mandate for various reasons: because it underestimated the power of its neo-liberal opponents, because it had no viable alternative to the neo-liberal economic agenda, because it lost faith in the principles of social democracy and thus in its politicai goals (Cameron in Ralph et ai. 1997:

11) and, because its approach to social spending created deficits which in tum produceci untenable levels of inflation (Scotton, The Finuncial Post. September 26/28 1992: S20-2 1).

It is argued here, however, that the NDP did not pursue its mandate because it was widely unpopular.16 Furthemore, it is submitted that its mandate was ody ever attainable in the event that large-scale public support could have ken mobilized either against this very govexmnent - to pressure it to keep its election promises - or in cwperation with this govemment and against the federal neo-liberal agenda If the majority of the Ontario electorate had indeed voted for the NDP's mandate as laid out in its election platform. this type of political action would not be incoaceivabie. In other words, if the Ontario electorate had voted for social-democracy when it voted for the NDP, there may have been a public defence of its principles.

Nevertheless. despite the failure of the NDP to defend kt alone implement its mandate, the Rae government's mandate expresseci a commitment to social values. This commitment, if mostly

l6 Duncan CaMon argues simiIari1y but not identidiy. tbat the NDP "Imt the public relations battic over the rccession and gave ground on the economyn.Hc submits that the Toronio Sm,the Finrutciid Post and the Canadian Fderation of Indepcndent Business, "all lincd up to discredit the NDP" aad Chat this pmsurc which began tbt day the NDP took officepushed the NDP to cetaliate, sumndering the flesh of its socid-democratic program - an economic program bascd on wage growth (ïmcluding nsing social wages), fbelling consumptioa tbat would lead to business investment. For social democtats, "business investeci because it exptctcd to makc a profit, not because it had profits to invtstn(Cameron in Ralph et ai. $997:10). verbal, is manifest in the NDP's election pladorm and in this govemment's policy paper in promotion of a sociai charter. To begin, the NDP's election pladom pledged to: overhaul and upgrade skiils trainhg and acquisition as well as introduce wholesale revision to Ontario's industriai relations system to protect workers fiom job los, plant closures and technological change. It announced its intention to give workers new protection under the Employment Standards Act to ensure that they receive wages, vacation pay, severance pay, and termination pay when tirms fail or close do=..made the introduction of a . universal system of child care a priority and has promised wholesale changes to Ontario's affulnative action legislation @niche 1992: 235).

This is indeed an arnbitious social-economic pladorm geared towards a healthy economy based on hedthy wages, healthy social programs, social equality and the modernization of the workplace (Ibid).

The NDP govemment pursued the ideological intent of its election platform when it introduced the idea of a social charter. This vision of economic development that made sociai justice and social spending a vital constituent, was articulated in September 1991 when the Rae govemment published a discussion papr entitled A Canadiun Social Charter: Mcrking Our Shmd Values

Stmnger. The paper was intended to garner suppa for, or at least to place on the political agenda, a social charter - the constitutional entrenchment of social welf' policy. The following is an excerpt: This [a social charter] is essential not only for reasons of social justice and individual freedom but also for reasons of economic development. Our bais for intemationai competitiveness must not be a high level of human and enviromentai exploitation. The social charter wiil ensure that the social policy idhsüucture cannot be destroyed for reasons of short-sighted political expedience or misguided economic theory (Ministry of Intergovemmentai MrS 199 1: 3).

These statements exhibit a fmbelief in holding the govemment legaiiy accomkable, by the highest court of law in Canada, for the maintenance, defence and promotion of sociai justice in the context of economic policy-making. 27 The NDP did translate its words into actions on several occasions. Its policy decisions reflected sorne cornmitment to the ideological presentation of its politics. For example, the NDP govemment introduced the Employment Equity Act (1993) including the proxy rnethoà of equity evaluation, increased funding for rape crisis centres, engaged in a three-year investigation of the Violence Against Women Revention Program for which it was specifically indicated that "in view of a commitment to enhg violence against women and developing appropriate women's services, budget reduction was not a goal" (OAI'ïH, November 1996: 63-64). It also created new child care spaces through its Jobs Ontario program (JOT). Not incidentally, these new child care spaces wen completely fbnded by the province instead of foilowing the conventional 80:20 (provincial: muaicipal) cost-sharing ratio. This rneant that a social assistance recipient could not be prohibited fkom participating in job training or hmgaining employment simply because a municipal govemment was unable to fil1 its share of the cost; it was an attempt to spread the social safety net more evenly throughout the province (Lalonde in Ralph et al. 1997: 94). The Rae government also undertook to unionize 13,500 rniddle-level and senior bureaucrats and established the Ontario Training and Adjustment Board (OTAB) to oversee $2 billion a year in job training spread ammg the ministries ( Scotton, The Financial Post. Septembu 26/28, 1992: S20-21). Indeed, it has even been argued that "under the NDP, more progress has been made on equity issues in four years than in the previous 20 years" (Mackenzie, Canadian Dimension v. Junenuly, 1995: 13)

The point is clearly aot to depict the NDP government as devoted to aileviahg women's poverty through social policy or as dedicated to forging the expansion of state social programs. After ail, the NDP hired welfare fraud police, established enhanced verification procedures and reduced weKare rates (Scott 1996 20). The NDP's performance in office fat hmreached the social and economic policy ambitions of its election platform. The point is, however, to ncognize that the Rae govem&ent and the women's movement did share a political language. Many of those who had hoped that the NDP would hilfill its election promises have charged this government with having fled, or at least lost sight of, "the basic social-democratic belief that governments spend more wisely than business" (Cameron in Raiph et al. 1997: 11). For example, Duncan Cameron argues that the NDP decided that Ontario had to respond to international competition by becorning more attractive to business investment. As a consequence, it made ovectures to business, launched skills programmes to sharpen the quality of the workforce and discarded its plans to raise corporate taxes. In sum, it abandoned its foundational conviction, "that at the margin, govement could invest new money at a better rate of retum for its citizens than business could" (Ibid: 10-1 1).

Nevertheless, although the NDP did lose sight of the social convictions so strongly put forth in its election platlomi, it did so at a tirne when both economic circumstances and conditions made it a "daunthg challenge" and perhaps an improbable one to keep withia the political field of vision. For despite what Drache" and others have argued, placing the NDP govement in the context of federal economic policy and considering the most-likely explmation for its electoral victoryl8, suggesu that the NDP's mandate was a next to impossible one to fuifiii by way of straight economic policy reform and sheer legislative power. The NDP's mandate needed to be popular and it was not.

The character of the federal govemment's economic policy in the 1980's is summariz«l by the Macdonald Royal Commission that was ~Ieasedfor public consumption in December of 1982

Drache argues that at the time of the NDPs office (1991-95). cestructuring the economy so that poduntivity growth translated into a reduction of social inqualities was an option for Ontario. He ttcognizcs that the dilemma that the NDP government faced at the tirne and that any provincial government in ClanaAs faces is that "macroeconomic policy remains a strictly federai [email protected]). Nonetheless, he maintains that what does fa within Ontario's jurisdiction is a broad arca of rwponsibility for social and tconomic development including: 'labour markets, industrial restructirring, the financial ngulation of institutions, technology transfer to finns and enterprises, worker cetraining, as wcll as export assistance to Ontaria-based businessn(ïbid).'Chus, he concludes that if the NDP were to pursue an industnal budget Wre tbe one & lays out on the last page of the book, that this govenment could indeed taclde the five principai agenàas of social democracy - socid wcifarc poücy, labour market adjusmitnt, emptoymtnt equity, Ïndistrisl sttategy and environmenl mvaymi& xiv). IUIbe most-Lilrely expianation for the NDP victoy L that the elcctotatc's vote was a vat of dissatisfaction witb the Liberal and Pmgmsive Conscnmtive parties Le., a vote of last mort d naa vote for social âcmocracy. 29 (Cameron 1997: 15). This report acted as the federal govemment's economic scripture and has served to guide its social and economic policies ever since. The Commission identified economic growth as the national goal, amibuteci slow growth to diminished productivity and submitted that fiee made in association with deregulation would force the Canadian economy to makt structural adjusünent that would enhance productivity and lead to higher growth (Ibid: 15). The advised form that this "stnictural adjustment" was to take relied on "seerningly scientific data" indicating that the "non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment" is between 6.5 and 8 percent (Ibid). These data were then translated into the prescriptive economic formula that low unemployment provokes inflation. As a resuit, the "acceptable anti-infîation policy" came in the form of poiicies to ducewage rates @id: 16-17).

Furthemore, the Canada4J.S. Fr# Trade Agreement FA)and the succeeding North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), have atablished a legal frarnework to limit govemment. Spacificdy, under NmA,if a govemment wanted to implement a new public service such as universal chiid care or even to bring a private service into the public nalm through regulatory measures (like public auto insurance for example), it would have to compensate pnvate providers for the profits they wodd have made if these services had remained privately controlled (Ibid: 18). These NmA-imposed restrictions raise the cost of social programs in Canada to defensibly exorbitant levels since taxpayers would incur double payments for any new public setvice - one payment for the service itself and another to compensate the private fimu for lost potentid revenue (Ibid: 18). In other words, the RAand NmAlegislaie, in international law, the high cost of national social programs. What has been implernented through the regdations of this pair of irade agreements is, in essence, a tautological reason for not estabiishing national social prognuns; national social programs are deemed too expensive because the federal governent agreed to sign an international trade agreement in which instituthg national social programs is made expensive. The federal govemment is aow able to argue that it cannot &orci to fund universai social pmgtams because they sirnply cost too much. What this means politically is that appealing to the federal govemment to estabiish universal social programs when provincial progams are cut or poorly financed, actually mans contesting international trade policy and not just the policy decisions of federal representatives. ClearIy, the provinces have becorne iacreasingly influential in the construction of social and economic life while at the same timt evermore burdened by the nsponsibilities which the federal government has devolved and by the effects of federal econornic policies, namely, the FTA and NAFTA. The Chretien govemment has slashed the hinding of provincial social programs by roughly $7 billion since its office began (Cameroa, B. 1997: 15). In addition, it has replaced the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) with The Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) - effective Aprii 1, 19% - thus leaving only one national standard for social programs in place: the absence of residency requinments (Ibid: 16).

When the Rae govemment was elected to power in the spring of 1991, it found itself at the helm of a provincial economy expenencing the de facto implementation of the ETA and in the midst of a loud and organized campa@ against the rnounting national debt, a campaign through which the federal government's cuts to huiding transfers for social programs and near-elimination of national standards. were articulateci as the only solution to the debt crisis (McQuaig 1995).*9 Therefore, while the NDP's performance in office has ceaainly been the subject of debate that has heard more critics than defenders, it is important to recognize that what loyal NDP supporters expected of this governimut was a high cailing, a calhg that sorely lacked public support. The want of public suppoa for the NDP's election platfom is nesonable to assume considering that the Harris govemment foliowed the NDP with a comfortable majority. For if the same population that elected the NDP govemment elected the Harris govemment, the NDP was certainiy not elected by a widespread belief in the value of social institutions, social weifare,

l9 For uample, hrhedescribu the ccowmy that the Ru governmcnt fsad upon its ekection: "Ontariors indusüies are king battertd Oae indusîriai job in scven bas kalost to ihe tccejgion. So fn ova2M O00 jobs have disappeared What is more serious, howevtt, is tkudh tbt job losses in tbe tecession of 198 1-82, close to haIf of the cumnt job losscs arc permanent, This mckmcores the fut îhat this nc#ssion is a stmdcecession. Its signature is the unprecedented rate of partial and comptete cIasuresn(Drachc 1992- xiv). labour unions, fueling cousumption to spark investment and goverment-imposed equity policies. Even if, for example, the majority of Ontario's electorate had been disappointed with the NDP's performance and, thus, had lost faith in the NDP as the par& that could introduce the refomis it had promised, voting for either the provincial Tories or the Libeds in poiiticd reaction does not exempllfy a beiief in the value aad the possibility of a form of social democracy .

Nonetheless, the NDP's performance in office has been held out as a test of the viability of social spending, a central component of the politics of social democracy. For example, Geoffrey Scotton, writing for The Financial Post, measured the failings of the Rae govenunent by the size of its deficits: "Deciining tax revenues and skyrocketing social welfare costs are two big factors that have contniuted to two successive budget deficits, each around $10 billion, the largest in Ontario history"(The Fhcial Post Duily, September 26/28, 1992: S2O-21). The deficit numbers are undoubtedly real. What has produced these figures and how important they are, however, is far more complex than this formulait snapshot suggests and is the subject of much debate and academic analysis.**

It is not only critics on the political right that have treated the NDP's provincial terni as a test of the viability of a form of social democracy in Ontario. Whether or uot the Rae govemment lost faith in the possibility of its own social-democratic program, remains a question for thinkers on the Iek The foliowing quotation captures the pith of this query: When they accepted the in of their partisan by legislahg a social contract with their own employees rather than initiating massive layoffs, were they making the best of a ciifficuit situation? Or did

Janine Bmdic, Politics on the Margins: Rutnicîuring Md the CdWomen's Movcmenî (1995). chaptcr four "Sctting the Foundations for the Neoiibcrd Staten, for a ccview of some prominent texts thai discuss the ideologicai contestabïlity of "structural djustmentnin the face of "globalizaiion".Set also Jane lenson, Rianne Mahon and Manfred Bienefeld (Eds,) Prodl(crion, S'e, t&nnCfy(t993), for a manrist perspective on Canada's contempocary politicai cconomy- See also Jane RiUungbam and Gordon Ternowttsky, "Social Policy Choices and îhe Agenda for Changew,in Remrrku,g CoMdign &chi Pom: Saiicrl Secvnty in the tate 1990%(1996), Jane RiUringbam and Gordon Temowetsky (Eds-) and Michelle Weinroth, "Deficitism and N~onsttvativismin Ontariow, in MkHarris's Ontario: Openfor BusinesdClased ta Peopk (199î), the NDP ril out social democracy when it suspended collective bargainhg and bought into the politics of austerity ...? (Ralph in Ralph et. al 1997: 9).

But the success or failure of the NDP govemment did not rest upon the success or failure of its social-democratic mandate.

The Rae government was not in a position to prove that it had come up with a better economic agenda than that of the neo-liberal formula, an agenda that couid be seen to deliver better economic opportunities and social programs than its opponents. Such a feat wouid certainly occupy more time than a tenn in office. It was in a position to influence and change dominant political perceptions resulting fkom the debt crisis hype. Ultimately at stake during the Rae goverament's office, were social-democratic values - the belief in government social spending, the belief in social welfare as a nght and not a charity or a luxury, the beiief in the role of goveniment as promoter of social justice and provider of social welfm. Of course, challenging the direction of federal neo-liberal economics is not something a provincial govemment can do alone or even in association with its contingent of traditionai supporters. This kind of transformation, of large-scaie tesistance to the winaing economic agenda, deman& public support. Although it is clear that at the thne this level and spirit of public support for massive social and economic change did not exist, the Rae govemment made no bold or successN attempts at winning it.

Regardless of the outcomes of the NDP's term, it nonetheless held promise for the women's movement because the expression of its political vision and its policy atternpts towarâs the institutionaiization of social equality, if only meager, agreed with the movement's collective requests for government to assume greater fiscal and legal responsibility for a broad range of social needs and social justice issues. This govemment made available considerable funding for women's organizations. Furthennoce, during the NDP's office, whether or not the govemment couid aord social welf' and whether or not the goverment should legislate social equality was a subject of widesptead public debate. 1t was a legitimate topic of politicai discussion with and witbin the government, a topic that carried the weight of something important that was unresolved. Uuder the Harris government, such formal debate has been lost.

The Politics of the HdsGovemment The purpose of contextuaiizing the Hanis govemment, is to stress that the political-economic issues facing Ontario today were not bom in Iune of 1995 when the Harris government took office, nor were the political positions of debate. What is new is this govemment's articulation of the împortant political issues facing the province. its mannet of pursuing its mandate and the social and cultural implications of its particular form of politics. In this final section of the chapter, it is argued that the Harris goverment's politics is concemeci not ody with reshaping the structures of the provincial state and redefining the role of Ontario's government, but also anci, necessarily, with cultivating a public belief in its agenda through an arrangement of ideological materiais. This section begins with an ovewiew of the breadth and scope of the changes the Harris government has made to the structures and functions of Ontario's institutions. Subsequently, the chapter analyzes the ideological articulation of the poLitical culture this govenunent must cultivate to solidify support for the changes it has enacted. More precisely, the gendered character of this govemment's ideological repertoire is explored.

The Harris social spending cuts, in the name of preserving "the family", protecting "the taxpayei', and eliminating "the debt" are a major assault on the politics of the women's movernent and social movements generaliy. Critics such as Tony Clarke argue that the Harris govenunent ha~transfomied the face of Ontario poiitics to a degree unmatched by its predecessors and that no simple reversa1 of this govemrnent's actions iiluminates Ontario's political horizons:

To simply replace the Harris Tories in the next provincial election with the New Democrats. let alone the Liberals. will accomplish üttle. The challenge that lies ahead is to develop a new politics aimeci at both unmasking and dismantling the systems ofcorporate dethat are operativein Ontario and Canada. To move in this direction. both social movements and political partics wiU need to be retooled and transformed (Clarke in Raiph et al. 1997: 36). Why the women's movement wiii need to be retooled and transformed is the central concem here. How the women's movement is attempting to do so and how it might go about it differently is taken up in the remaining two chapters of this thesis.

The extent and speed of the Harris goverment's changes to the structure of Ontario's institutions, narnely in the form of spending cuts, are worth nothg. Afkr but one year in office, the Harris government had cut government spending by $5.5 biilion, trimrned welfan rates by 21.6%, cancelad 390 CO-opand non-profit housing projects, closed 25 halfway houses, cut the Ontario Training and Adjusment Board 1995-96 budget by $20 million, cut the Ministry of Health budget by $1.5 billion (including reducing hospital budgets by 18%over three years: $365 million in 1996-97, $435 million in 1997-98 and $507 million in 1998-99), cut grants to schwl boards by $1 billion over one year, reduced provincial grants to municipalities by 49%

(over two years), cut transit grants by 21% (over two years), eliminated provincial funding for blue box recycling, cut conservation authorities' support by 70% (over two years), instituted a speciai tax of $220 in rural communities to cover the cost of the Ontario provincial police service, cut $220 million from public and non-profit broadcasters and reguiatory boards and from art gaileries and museums, and caaceled gants for businesses such as those pmvided by the Economic Development Fund @are in Raiph et al. 1997: 20-26).

Spending cuts that have had a direct impact on women specificdy hclude: the elimination of ali provincial funding for programs in second stage shelters for ab& women aad their chilciredi, the nduction in the provincial funding of 24-hour crisis intemention phone lines in Ontario Lice

The Assaulted Women 's Helpiine in Toronto and SOS Femmes (the ody crisis phone line for Francophone women), an overail 5%cut to emergency women's shelters, a $2.7 million cut

. (over two y-) in the Ontario Women's Directorate's (OWD)grant fiuiding for the

21 Second stage shelters provide bousing for tbne months to a ycar and arc uscd by women who haw ken unable to stcure permanent housing, have multiple Mers to escaping abuse, or nad additionai support (OAiTH, November 1996: 9). administration of Violence AgaiDst Women Revention programs, and the elimiaation of chiid care subsidies [Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH), November 19961. In addition, the web of support services that help abused women get back on their feet and out of shelters, have had their funding cut. For example, community coordinathg committees with a mandate to promote the coorâination of services and protocols addressing "domestic violence" in communities across Ontario, lost ail provincial bnding (Ibid: 16). And, in October of 1996, the Attorney General of Ontario cut the Ontario Legal Aid Plan by $153 million (over three years) (Ibid: 10). In a survey adrninistered by the ûntario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAI'W) in Aupst of 1996, 100% of the respondents "reported women hahg problems either with accessing legal aid itself, or with fmding a lawyer who would accept a legai aid certificate" @id: 30).P Not incidentally, the Legal Aid Plan eligibiüty guidelines designate "spouse or child at risk" as a priority for assistance (Ibid).

The social and poiiticai qualities of many of Ontario's institutions and public policies have also been redefined by the Harris govesnment. It is not oniy the blueprint of the govemment that has been redrafted; the meaning of the govemment's social role, the purview of its social nsponsibilities and the character of its political power have cbanged. The provincial and federal applications of structurai adjustment programs, particularly in the case of the Harris govemment, are radicaiiy uarisforming the meaning of govenunents and citizens in what we caii a "iiberal democracy" (Clarke in Ralph et al.: 29). Govemment intervention on behalf of the public interest is no longer about creating jobs, redisüibuting wealth through social programs or ensuhg that industrial production agrees with environmental standards (Ibid). Rather, the principal role of the govemment is to prepare its jurisdiction for transnational investment by

Legal aid eertifka

Some of the more subtle alterations to governing practices in Ontario include: the disbandment of the Workplace Health and Safety Agency - its attenuated duties (worker input removed, accident prevention program and mandatory inquests when workers are kiiied, abolished) transfemd to the auspices of the Workers' Compensation Board; the replacement of the bi- patriate (equal membership by labour and management) Workers Compensation Board of Directon with a board dominated by employers; the loss of arbitration rights for police, fuefighters, teachers and hospitai workers; the reduction of the size of tbc staff of the women's dinctorate from eighty persons to twenty-five; and the nfonnation of the &dom of information laws (making it harder to obtain govemment information) @are in Ralph et al. 1997: 20-26).

Less subtle alterations to goveming practices include: the "tightenhg" of welfare eligibility23; the enactment of the Labour Relations Employment Statutes Law Amendmenta; the introduction of income contingent loan plans to uaiversity and college snidents while the wst of tuition rises

23 The "tightening"of welfarr regulations has consisted of: tighter cligibüity niles for L6 and 17 yesrsld claimants (O5 percent of the cmnt case load) and for ptrsons with disabilitics. AIso* the time a person must wait for benefits after king hdhm or quitting a job was increased fiom one to themontbs. In addition, a welfm fraud iine was established in October of 1995 so lhat the poticing of welfate claims could bc talrtn on by citizens themseIves, or as the Harris govenimcnt would say "taxpayers" (Scott 1996: 30-3 1). The attcmpt to "tightcn"welfare regulations Merstill, cornes under the name of Bi1 142. This is didon pages 41 and 42 of this cbaptcr. The Labour Relations Employaient Statutes Law Amendment dismantics NDP 1.bwr law rcfonns. It aius altows replacement worlcen to be uscd daring strikcs and d&g catification votes to statt ncw unions, Fucihenn~rc~it permits cmployers to launch an anti-union campaign and to initiate a dccertificatjoa vote with ahdy established unions @are in Ralph et al. 1997: 22). in response to funding cuts to education; the inflation of the health minister's powers granting him or her the authority to exterminate hospital boards and to take over hospitals directly (deciding what services to provide) as weil as unpmedented authority over access to and distribution of individual health records; the introduction of the Omaiius Biii (26) on the day of the Fiscal and Economic statement (amending 44 statutes, cxtating thne acts and repeaiing two); the redefdtion of the jwisdiction of the minister for municipal affairs, granting this position the power to abolish local govemments and to create mergen and amalgamations; and the abrogation of the NDP's Employment Eguity Act (Job Quotas Repeal Act 1995) in the name of removing business inhibithg legislation in Ontario (Ibid).

Even the skeleton of representative democracy in Ontario has been transformed and reduced. On October 1, 1996 Premier Harris addressed the Speaker of the Ontario legislature with these words: We know today Mr. Speaker, that adding more politicians, creating mon bureaucracy and spending more money has not solved our problems as a province. Rather, those costs have added to our debt load and, if they are aiiowed to continue to mount, will be passed on to our children.

This statement to the legislature introduced the tabling of the Harris government's fmt piece of legislation for the fail 1996 parliamentary tem - the reduction of provincial ridings from 130 to 103.

The latest round of provincial govemment redehition has corne in the fom of Bills 136, 142 and 160. Bill 136 originaiîy consisted of labour regdations that eliminated the right to strike for close to 450,000 of Ontario's public sector workers. The province's 126,000 unioaized teachers were also implicated shce the BU granteci the govenunent the power to apply the legislation to what are called "other circumstances". Fortunately, the Canadian Union of Riblic Employees

(CUPE) was able to orgaaize quickly and effectively in the thdays of public hearings aiiotted by the govemment for negotiations on this Biii before it proceeded to its third and îinal reading. CUPE retained the right to strike for pubiic sector union worken. However, CUPE's Ontario members are still threatened by unilateral and appointed arbitration practices. To elaborate, Bill 136 aliows the Harris government to appoint repnsentatives to &te collective agreements i.e., a minister's delegate selects an arbitrator who in turn is responsible for choosing the process of arbitration. Formerly, arbitration had ben done by an arbitration board conpiseci of equal representation by labour and management and observed a court-style hearing procedure wherein each side presented a case for judgment by the representative board. Another component of the Bill that diminishes labour power is "the purpose clause" which allows management to argue its position according to '%est practices". This term readily translates into a defence of whaver does the job management wants done in the cheapest way. Bill 136, then, is both a major victory and a devastating loss for the labour movement, a movement described by Judy Rebick as "one of the most progressive in the world on equality rigbts" (Rebick and Roach 1996: 101).

Bill 160 (The Education Quality hprovement Act) affccted close to 126,000 teachers' jobs in Ontario. It proposeâ the use of noncertified instnictors, the elimination of daily preparation time for classes (i.e., a teacher wodd be expected to teach every period of the day) and the reduction of class sues. The Biil also proposed to extend the school year, duce the numbcr of profcssional activity days for teachers and required that teachers begin school a waek earlier in the fall in order to prepare for the year. It was predicted that these proposals would cut 4,000 teaching jobs in Ontario. In addition, Bili 160 gave the province - not the school boards - the power to set education pmperty tax rates. Most importantiy, the government attempted to enact this legislation with as little public consultation as possible, It pushed the Bill thou& to second rradiag in only three days. Michelle Landsberg, colurnnist for the Toronto Star, commenteci on the political temerity of Bill 160: "[nlot since the War Measures Act has a government arbitrarily seized so much power affecting so many, with so little justification ..." (October 18,1997: LI).

Bill 142 (The Social Assistance Review Act), pas& on November 28,1997, is the most hehous of these three highly contentious pieces of legislation and has the most severe genâer implications. This Iegislation marks the end of the tnatment of single mothers as a distinct 39 welfare recipient group; it is therefore the end of a mother's ailowance policy that has existed in tbis province for 77 years (Little 1998: 407). Under Bili 142, single mothers, the unemployed, elderly people and people with temporary finesses or disabilities will all be subject to the same welfare policy (Ibid: 4 18). Oniy single mothers with chiidren under five and the severely disabled shall be exempt nom workfare.

In addition, Bill 142 augments the policing of welfare recipients by granting the province and municipaiities the authority to administer "hud control units" to scrutinize welfm eligibility.

The legislation also enlarges the power of the welfare workers who review recipients' eligibiiity, ailowing them to acquire and to act on search warrants and to demand iaformation from third parties such as family members, neighbours, landlords, teachers, ernployers, doctors, priests and others (Ibid: 419). Furthemore, Bill 142 establishes province-wide workfare and promises only to provide "temporary financial assistance to those most in need while they satisfy obligations to become and stay employed" (Iôid)?

Cornmunity and Social Services Mïnister Janet Ecker defended the BU by saying: 'nie welfare system must be fair to those who receive its benefits, and it must be fair to those who provide the benefits - the taxpayers" (Armstrong, The Toronto Star. October 2,1997: A2). She fuaher submitted that "~axpayers]have no problems paying taxes to help people in need get where they want to be - hto paid jobs - and that's what we're trying to do is ensure that credibility is in the system"(1bid). The Biil's methods of ensuring credibility include: expanding the workfare program province-wide and to single parents of school-age children, legaüzing the electronic fingerprinting of welfare recipients, increasing penalties for welfare fraud and allowing the governinent to appoint someone to take over a recipieat's &airs while disallowing the ncipient to appeal judgrnents made against him or her. Landsberg summarizes the effcct Bill 142 will have on single mothers in Ontario: "By January 1st. single mothers will be stripped of any

"Margarct Littic cites Bill 142. Sctwduic A, Ontario Works Act, 199'7. Section 1. subsection b. pnvacy, dignity or security bey had before, and will be fomd on to workf' while their children are, presumably, left doae at home" (The Sunduy Star. September 28,1997: A2).

Having established the manner in which the Harris govemment has transfonned and is transforming the structure and character of Ontario's public institutions, the foilowing discussion looks at how the Harris govemmeat is attempting to legitirnate, through language, the redefuiition of the meaning and role of Ontario's government, the altend meaaing of the social that is a resuit and the collective perception of the social and political self upon which this governrnent's transformation of the state depends.

It is argwd that a major part of this legitimation manipulates cuituraiiy prescribed gender roles where convenient and disregards the contradictory messages upon which its political goals depend. The Harris govemment's ideological repertoire is not logical. It is, rather, an ensemble of social and cultural materials that resonate fdarity, that strike superficial chords of understanding because they corne from a cultural cachet of weU-aquainted wisdoms. The Harris government is putting these othenivise unconnected and shallow wisdoms together to form an ostensible whole of common sense. In short, the Hbsgovemment is attempting a hegemonic politics as Haü describes it. A unifying composent of the articulation of this hegemony, is the social mle of women - both explicitly defued, located and blatantiy ignoreci and dislocated.

As a part of its campaign in the spring of 1995, the Progressive Conse~ativeParty led by Mike Harris published The ComnSeme Revolution Hmtdbook me Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario 1995). This is a pamphlet that was designed to promote the election platform of the

Harris Tories. It serves as an excellent example of the Harris Tories' political goals and, furthemore, of the articulation of these goals L., theu legitimating logic. The people one nods in The Handbook are either taxpayers or weifare recipients. The sole collective identity is the family in which women tacitiy play the caregiving role. The family continues to be one of this govemment's prefed ideologicai materiais. Its nuclear, heteroseXU81, middle-class form sits at the centre of the Harris govemment's story of Ontario's return to the simplicity and clarity of 41 common sense. nie Handbook is cited fkquently in the foilowing discussion as evideace of the tenuous and contradictory unity of the Harris Tories' ideological repertoire, a unity that exploits both the venatiiity and centraiity of women's imagineci social roles and responsibilities.

The chosen political audience of the Harris govemment's politics is indeed "the taxpayer". The Handbook is strewn with highlighted boxes filied with statements proclaiming the cost-savings to taxpayers incurred through budget cuts - mostly to welfare and education sectors. The taxpayer is suspiciously genderless. What the taxpayer is not is jobless and this is the valued character trait (according to this govemment, it is a character trait). One of the most conspicuous themes in nie Hmidbook, is this moral categorization of those who can pay for their iives and those who cannot. Unemployment is presented as an individual ethic. If one values oneself, one's independence, and is a conscientious worker, then one wiii not find oneself on welfare. The social message is that those who do rely upon social assistance are a kind of sub-class of people who do not deserve the governent break they are bound to exploit.

The gender neuWty of "the taxpayer" and "the welfare recipient" becornes transparent when one considers that many of the social se~cesami social policies that the Harris government has refused to hind or support are those that only or mostly women need ir., women's shelters, chiid care and employment and pay equity? These services have been deemed extravagant social costs. In what has been cded the second round of program cuts announcecl in October of 1995, for example, social se~ceagencies that provide critical support se~cesto women and their families and that are largely staffed by fernale workers were cut back by 5 percent (Scott: 32). When it cornes to treating or even recognizing needs, the Harris govemment's policies seem to regard women as abstractly "equaî" to men i.e., without a social and political status as women, without a gendered role, without a gendend subject position in society reflected by th&

~6Ontario's big&court has rcccntiy - Septembcr 8,1997 - stnick dom the govanment's mow to eliminut py quity-determincd incttases by the pmxy method It has not ken announceâ whether or not îhe cabinet wiii decide toappealthisniling* 42 distinctive needs. Thenfore, in the evaluation of social se~ces,women-specific services look like a logical - according to this logic - place to cut.

At the same the. the Harris govemment has nimplemented the "spouse-in-the-house" regulation of the Family Benefits Act (amended by Peterson's Liberals in 1987). Mot to the reimplementation of this regulation, a person on social assistance could live with a partner for up to three years before the govemment considered the couple coaunon-Iaw and factored in the assets and incorne of the second person in calculating eligibility and knefits. The Harris govemment has eliminated the waiting period. Katherine Scott argues that this welfare regdation primarily affects single mothers since a single mother no longer qualifies for the Family Benefits Program which pays higher benefits than General Weifare Assistance, if government workers conclude that she shares a home and living expenses with a man (Scott 1996: 3 1). There is no consideration of the man's inclination or ability to pay support (Ibid). During the fmt four months of this amendment, the govemment estimated 5,600 single mothers were cut off welfare, saving the public purse $10 miilion @id: 31).

Consistent with the them of gender neutraiity, The Handbook advertises cuts to child care fiinhg as a "Free Choice in Child Care" that WUencourage more centres to open, dowing

more single parents to fhd the daycare spaces they need while working" (nir Comncon Sense Revolution Handbook 1995: 15). This statement ignores the fact that there an far more single mothers than single fathers and that, consequentiy, womn are held nsponsible for raising their childnn alone while falling subject to a workfare program that is inconsiderate of child care needs. As one commentator plaialy remadcs, "expecting single mothus to make the transition from welfare to workfare while paying for chiid care doesn't make any sense"(C4Mdan Press N~swI*~~,September 19, 1995). In addition, the laaguage of the Tree Choice in Child Care" poiicy advenisement pnsents chiid care as an entrepreneurîal endeavor and not something that people - namely mothers (single andlor on welfare or othemhe) - need. The gender-neutrality of Harris' presentation of weifare conceals the fact that women are disproportionately reliant upon social assistance (Kitchen in Ralph et al. 1997: 106)' silences the fact that single-mothers are the primary target of 'bspouse-in-the-house" ngulations and ignores the fact that women are the primary caretakea of children and consequently have social needs that reflect this role and responsibility (Scott 1996: 26). Thus, a benefit structure designeci to treat men and women eguaily, chooses to ignore the fact that children live in families and that women are prirnarily responsible for theu care (Tbid).

It is critical to remark on the racial identity of the Ontario "taxpayer", for he does not belong to any and aU ethnic groups; he is white. According to politicai activist Jean Trickey, "...Harris has issued a smam of rhetoric playing on the colitiadictory mti-immigrant myths that immigrants are talting ail the jobs, and that immigrants are a drain on the weKare system" (Trickey 1997: 114). Furthelmore, Trickey accuses the Harris govemment of king an accomplice to racisrn because: (i) of the npeal the Employment Equity Act and (ii) of changes to the Employment Standards Actn (iii) of the decreased shelter aliowances thereby increasing the potential for landlords to discriminate against non-white social assistance recipients, (iv) of increased presence of police which has particular significance for rninorities because of the racist record of plice practices, and (v) of the slashing of the Mini* of Citizemhip Md Culture Anti-rocism

Secteturiat which hded anti-racist programs and served as the centraüzing body for initiahg and implementing anti-racist programs for the province (Toronto Coalition Agaimt Rach1996 cited in Trickey in Ralph et al. 1997: 119). Anti-immigrant sentiments, certainly a part of Ontario's cultural cachet, serve as opportune material with which to make a potent case for the excesses of social welfare spending.

Trickcy argues rhu this pvcrnment's changes to the Employment Standards Act "effectivctyends union continuity, wagc and benefit obligations"(N. Ebcr ,"Bill 7 quicidy becornes law," McCarthy Tcüauly Legal Update, 6.14, http:\\~~tl~.Mccathy.caht-7up.htmi.,cia'ed in Trickey, in Raiph et ai. 1997: 117). She submits thaî this contributes to rachkause wmen of colour fiam uaderdevtioping natioas and Abori8.d womcn are ûaditionally undmmploycd and are, thus, most reliant upon lcgislation that ptcctsthe rights of worlters. The Harris govemment's portrayal of the social mle of women has appeared as a prominent theme of the Harris government when it has been cded upon to explain who wiil carry the basket of social nsponsibilities being dumped by the state. Gender has been articulated as directly relevant to the material realities of the changing state; it bas overtly entend the present govenunent's language via the ideaüzed family. This fdyis heterosexual, middle class and nuclea. i.e., consisting of a working father and a mother at home caring for the farnily's life needs .

Regardless of the fact that far fewer than the majority of individuals live in a sotalled nuclear famiiy, the only social group represented in The CumnSense Revolution Hondbook is this ideaiized family.28 Mike Harris himself is the father of such a family and speaks as one husband and father to another in the The Handbook's opening page: "1 have been troubled by these reaiities [poor standards of education and rising crime rates] for some the. 1 fear that Janet and 1cannot hop for a better hhue for our children. 1 want to do something about it. So, today I'm putting forth a plan to help build a better future" (The Conunon Sem Revolution Handbook 1995: 10). A better friture, that is, for families like his on.Harris has evoked the idealized family more vividly in other contexts. For example, when Lynne Tourpin, former executive director of the National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO)released a Special Matters Report in November 1996 stating that the children enroiied in special education programs in Newfoundland were iikely to underachieve because they are poor and often attend school on an empty stomach, Hanis' comments blamed modern lifestyles and not high unemployment and weIfare rates. He said: "If you go back 30,40 years ago where it seemed to be that the mom was in the kitchen with a hot breakfast cooking as everybody woke up in the morning, that's not the normal situation today" (Mittelstaedt, The Globe and Mail. November 1 1, 1996: A 1). The

According to Staiistics Canada resauch, "[a]moag h"lier with spourcs of workiag age, 71% had boîh spouseg working in 1994, cornparcd with only 34% in I%7" ( Moore 1989). 45 message is clear: if women stayed at home, children would be fed, families would receive proper cm.

The Harris government's depiction of adults that do not conform to the ideaîized family's dictates is less than sympathetic. For instance, The Handbook States: 'niere are thousands of children paying the emotional @ce for their parents' separation" (Thc Common Sense Revolution Handbook 1995: 10). The locus of concem is the future of "our children". Single- parent families fdunder the title of "Children in Need". Again, the message is clear: non- nuclear families produce both hungry and emotioaally unstable children. Even if this were clearly the case, a remedy of practical moralism is but an insuit to the social, economic and political struggles that single parents, namely single mothers, face. For example, instead of ensuring that singie parents receive adequate support for both themselves and their chilchen (whether or not a mother lives with a man), hungry children attending school are to be the benefaftors of a "community nutrition program". This program is to be nia "[wlith leadership fiom the Remier, and with private sector and volunteer support". There is no mention of who those volunteers might be or what members of the "private sector" will be helping out (Ibid).

The Handbook also advertises a "Leaming and Eaming and Parenting" program. This offers parents who stay in school and meet attendance standards, "eligibility for child care and bonuses in their welfare cheques" (Ibid). There are no suggestions as to what parents are to do with their children while they are taking this government-imposed test of desemdness. î%e Handbook does state that a single-parent of a child of theyears old or younger will be exempt hmjob- training and workfare obligations. This exemption from a demoralking, punitive worldan policy ntxd not be thought of as a social relief. Parents with children under the age of four may not be obliged to participate in a worldare or re-training program, but they are not being offend adequate social assistance or govenunent subsidized chiid care to help them to maLe ends meet. When pressured to aclmowledge the need for affordable child care spaces in Ontario, Harris admitteci that alI forms of chüd care are expensive - incluag babysitters - ''D]ut he backed up the suggestion of one of bis Wsters that those who can't fiord licensed &y cmcould get 'informal' care from neighbours, relatives and other sitters" (Canadian Press Newswire. September 19, 1995). The evocation of bbneighbours"and "relatives" assumes a certain kind of community composed of certain hdsof families. Furthemore, and once again, because women continue to be primarily responsible for chiid care, it is women who are hurt most by cuts to child care funding - both as mothers and child care workers.

The politics of the idealized family - in large part that upon which the Harris government's dismantling of social services and prograrns depends - is not the invention of the Harris government. This family mode1 has been used by other neo-liberal govemmnts. For exemple the Conservative government of Bnan Mulroney (1984 - 1993) committed itself to defending the famiiy, which it defmed as "a male and a fernale, living together to raise children ... that's the only kind of family that ought to be defined" (cited in Luton 1997: 19). Margaret Thatcher's words on the importance of "the family" during her govenumnt's dismantling of weffare state programs are notorious: "there is no such thing as society, there is only the economy and families" ((1987 cited in Luxton 1997: 20). Clearly, the evocation of the ideaiized family is not unique to the Harris govemment's politics. This does not mean it is unimportant. In fat, the famiiiarity of ihis ideology rnay add to its currency since it is less Wrely to appear politicaliy convenient or evasive and, thus, more iücely to appear as the way things are or the way things ought to be.

This heterosexual, nuclear family has been presented by neo-liiral governments in the put and present as the only social alternative to private businesses competing in the marketplace (Luxton 1997: 20). The fact that the family is the ody social unit represented in the Cornmon Seme Revolution Hdbook is testimony that "the family" is conveniently relied upon as the social catch-all by governments intent on nlieving themselves of social responsibilities.

Under the Hanis goverment the famiy is not only expected to coliect the stray social responsïbiiities once housed by the state. It is expected to do so in a qualifiai and reguiated manner. For example, a family rnember cannot just decide to helpout a fellow family member if he or she is on social assistance. This type of help falls under the punitive legalese of '%effare fiaud". Therefore, if a famiiy intends to helpout it had better be prepared to take on the whole task. To do otherwise is to contribute to the proliferation of a tax-eating social iii.

Of especial interest here, however, is how the family model, which promises stability and security in a period of social insecurity and disruption (Coontz cited in Luton: I l), implicates women's lives. Luxton succinctly summarUes the role that women play in the idealized family model and delineates what is sociaily regressive about it: Neo-couservative policies put in place socio-economic structures that privilege certain kinds of relationships and either fail to support or actively undermine others. By reinforcing the hetemsexual nuclcar family and encouraging women to provide family caregiving, they erode the gains of women's süuggles for equaüty. They simultaneously pnsent a political vision in which demands for equality are consmicted as "unre&tic" and "too costly"(Luxton: 22).

Luton's words echo the very logic that appears to be at work in the Harris govemment's persistent political appeal to the mythical family. Furthemore, her analysis recognizes that this familial politics is a farniliar scene on the road to kingmarkets beneath the banner of global

In the case of the "spouse-in-the-house" regdation, the Harris government evokes ''the family" in two confiicting ways. Both have harsh implications for women. The "spouse-in-the-house" nguiation tacitiy defines "men as provides and women as dependents in 'the hetemsexuai family' whose function is the nuauring and socialization of children" (Kitchen in Ralph et al. 1997: 109). It does this by assuming that if a woman lives with a man, this man is providing for her and, if she has any, for her children. It is therefore determined that her reception of social assistance is unnecessary. And yet, in another way, this vecy regdation is anti-family. In other worck, because the man iïving with the woman and children on social assistance may not be providing for her (Scott 1996:30), the 'bspouse-in-the-house"regdation encourages families to iive apart in order to collect the needed social assistance. This separation could weîi raise the hancial, physicai and emotional costs of living for many individuais - mothers, fathers and children. Furthemore, under Biil 142 a single mother with children over the age of four is required to work for the welfare dollars she receives at a job aiiocated by a municipal workfare program. This policy is not conducive to a family life, even if 'Yamily" means no more than a group of individuais who tive together.

Whiie the Harris government preseats the family as the primary social unit and the place where individuals should seek material cornfort since goveniment-fimded social institutions cannot affotd to be counted on, it has established a welfare snitch line so that neighbom can report the aid that welfare recipients receive from family members and others in the community. The calculated equivaient of this aid is then deducted from the welfare recipient's monthly cheque. It is one thing to slash weIfare rates and hope that people are able to find theu own resources to stay afioat and even to suggest how they might do so Le., as the Harris government has done by suggesting that people - like stntggüng single mothers - receive help hm%ends, relatives and family". It is quite another thing, however, to spend public money to tnick down and penalize those who do fmd extra-govemmental ways to heIp themselves and the3 families.

There is an illogic and a randomess to the Harris govemment's aaiculation of political ismes. It is clear bat the Harris govemment has made an effort to pubiicly legitimtate its political actions. This legitimation, however, has not been articuiated as a rationally sound and concrete program. It has not even aimed to appear as such. Rather, the Harris government has simply attempted to root its agenda in common sense Le., to have its political commentary resonate with sow Wy-held beliefs and perceptions aiready out then.

Women have ban wrïtten out of the Harris goverment's politicai script - except, of course. when Mike Harris wants a non-govemmental reason to account for child poverty in Newfoundland. At the same the, womn's ostensib1e politicai absence is accompanied by an increased social pnsence. Women's work has aiways supporteci the weIfare state. Indeed, women have always had a different relatioaship to both the market and the welf' state than men (Geller and Joel 1996: 306). Women are both more dependent on the welfare state due to their social and economic vulnerabilities as mothers, caretakers of the family, and subjects of unequal pay practices, and more cntical to the welfan state's continued existence as social workers and political activists. Because of women's cornplex and contradictory relationship to the welfare state, inadequate welfare programs ninforce the feminization of poverty inherent to the structure of the welfare state (Ibid). The Harris government's spartan approach to social welfare is certainiy no exception.

Conclusions According to Stuart Hall, the thstof Thatchensm's political streagth resided in this government's discovery of "a powemil means of mslating ecooomic doctrine into the language of experience, moral imperative and common sense, thus providing a 'philosophy' in the broder sense - an alternative ethic to that of the karing society' "(HA 1988: 47). This is precisely the sort of politics ihat the Harris government is attempting, by creating the economic and political circumstances and supplying the discursive materials, to give life and growth to a ''compulsive" nghtness - both ethicaily and as a location on the political spectnim. The Harris government has been most adept at offering simple and emotive responses to explain the social, political and economic changes it has enacted against the backdmp of the federal government's compatible economic agenda. These ready-made responses explond in the preceding pages of this chapter and careiùiiy laid out in the Hanis govemment's Cornmon Seme Revulution Handbook include: the association of social welfare with social illnesses like dependency, deceit, indolence and the contrary association of the average taxpayer with values iike independence, harâ work, productivity and responsible parenting in the nuclear family form.

The H&s government's politics have been likened to American politics of the 1970's and 1980's under the Reagan Administration (RCgimbald in Ralph et al. 1997: 45-53) and also, as only just discussed, to Bntain's politics under Margaret Thatcher hm1979 to 1990 (Browne in Ralph et al. 1997: 37-45). These connections are useful because they recognize ideological materials and associations as patterns in the process of the institutionaikation of neo-liberal politics. However, these conmctions are ody so helpful as their utility often ceases at the Ievel of providing a frame of references for interpreting political trends. Furthemore. such associations can be damaging because they niaforce the sense that the redennition of govenunent, of public life that is happening here - the same one that twk place in Britain and the United States - is inevitable. For ideology, as Hall's interpcetation avers, is not simply a tool of comprehension, it is the material with which people understand their lives in a large, public context. Ideologies cultivate beliefs which infonn and legitimate major decisions about how we share our lives i.e., according to what values, laws, rights and through what sets of structures and institutions.

Why is the biggest challenge that the women's movement faces now in Ontario ideological? A plain answer is that ideology is all that the women's movement has left The Hams govenunent's hinding cuts have debilitated women's organizations to such a degree that holding on to a movement in the midst of the struggle to merely keep the doors of services to women open, is proving next to impossible (Interview. Beverly Bain: November 4, 1997). The terms for receiving funduig in the grab for resources are defined by the contradictory common sense anlaysed above - the double-edged mythology of womn as mothers and caretalcers in the context of the increasingly rare famüy mode1 and as simple workers and taxpayers in the increasingly nebulous context of the public sphere.

The political terrain of ideology matters because it is the very place where the big picture is conceived and can, thus, be reconceived. A social alternative to the Harris govemment's anti- social political program, is not even a possibility as long as the majonty of the public bdieves, or is wiiiing to accept when times get tough, that immigrants cost the govemment too much money, that women shouid stay at home aud look after the Lids, that single mothers shouid be treated lüre eveq other bard-working taxpayer, that welfan is a dependency and not a need, that the provincial govemment like the federal govemment cannot afford to incur an even greater debt by continuing to let millions of dollars Bow into inefficiently-mn social institutions like health-care and education. The Harris govemment may not bave invented these ideologies, but it bas relied upon them and collected them. In short, the Harris government has convenientîy placed these wisdoms on the tips of proud taxpayers' toagues so that they may make sense of the changes taking place in public life when they begin to notice them.

Stuart Hall and Martin Jacques argue that the political forces on the left in Britain that opposed Thatcherism failed because they ...fail4 to distinguish adequately between Tbatchensm and the way the world had changed - or, to put it another way, between Thatcherism and the world which Thatcherism claimed to represent and aspireci to Id.That new world and Thatcherism were seen as one and the same thing. The latter. as a consequence, looked omnipotent, as if it was in command of history (Jacques and HaU 1989: 15).

In other words, the forces on the political left in Britain failed to prevent or to slow the rise of Thatcherism because they fded to engage forcefully in the ideological smggle that was defining the very political terrain upon which they fought. Because the women's movemcnt is so materidy harmed under the Harris government, it is especiaily vulnerable to losing its coîlective political convictions in the name of the continued delivery of specific services to those in need. It is especially merable to believing that the political forces creating the very circumstances of thei.existence are tw large, too vat, too comected to the global economy to be senously opposed- Investigating the politics of activists in Ontario's Women's Movement

politicai vision let aione engaging in sttategic politicai ectivity is a high caiiing under the political and fiscal pressures induced by the Harris govemment. NevertheIess, this chapter addresses both the political danger of failing to Ne to ihis challenge and the promise of a politics that tackles its heights. The danger is that of losing the politics of the women's movement for the sake of a necessary few unreliable nsources. The promise resides in examples of simple political actions that have cracked - if only momentarily - the ideological framework of the Harris govemment and Uustrateâ the possibility of an altogether different marner of speaking politicdy, one that escapes both the coilusion inherent in sharing the language of the Harris goverment's seStitled "Common Sense Revolution" and the political alienation that results from demanding saciai reforms at a time when the very notion of social weLf&re is being written out of the state.

This chapter is about political strategy and the women's movement during the Harris govemment's era Quite simply, it is about how leading activists in the movement imagine its fiiture. Contained in perceptions of what ponends, are prescriptions of what is a limit and an opportunity to the present constniction of a brïghter road ahead. The twofold question that drives the arguments in this chapter is: How have feminist activists' ideas about the social role of the state been altered by the politics of the Harris govemment and how are these altered ideas reflected in the cunent politicai strategies of the women's movement? Mon clearly, how do activists imagine that the changing constitution of the state and the changing character of its power wili affect women beyond Usgovemment's office, and what do they propose to do about it?

The women consulteci were selected for their expenence as activists in Ontario - specifically, for having a history of activism that precedes the Harris government - and to coiiectively reflect a range of politicai identities. Political identity here refers to the principal politicai nason why a gmup of people have chosen to be activists. The scope of identities in this chapter does not speak for the women's movement as a totality but it does speak about it And, although there are undoubtedly many more confiicting views wiW the Ontario women's movemt at this tirne, the interpretations collecteci here offer plenty of matenai for discussion.

Funding Out ...The Right Strategy Much of the women's movement's politics in Ontario have thrived upon a steady source of government funding. As a result, the Harris govemment's removal of large amounts of provincial money fiom women's groups and services has resulted in a scramble to survive. The kind of struggle that the women's movement is waging right now is one of basic survival - how you keep your doors open, how you keep your services going, how you keep se~cingwomen," says Beverly Bain, an anti-racist activist in the Ontario Women's Movemnt (Inte~ew.Beverly Bain: November 4 1997)." Not incidentally, the provision of women's services, independently administered but reliant upon federai, provincial and rrünicipal funding is one of the great achievements of the movement's second wave. State-fincancing of womn's seMces has not ody enabled them to exist, but it has also acted as a public confirmation of women's specific needs and thus of women's continued oppressions despite the now widely accepteci laquage of

r, Sec Appendix II for a brief biogrqby of each interviewce. 54 gender equaüty. The removal of the state's financial support is simultaneously the removal of its po titical support.

The Harris govemment's funding cuts are not simply a cost-savings measun, the kind of funding that is replaceable in better economic tirnes. The cuts act as a political strategy to eliminate women's senrices and to unnivel the many ties that form the women's movement. This strategy is played out in several ways: (i) by directly removing funding, (ii) by basing funding on cornpetition for a determined set of available granis - making political allies into economic fws, (iii) by encouraging economic partnerships - thereby hinding one organization instead of two and, (iv) by funnehg money into centrai social institutions with the goal of amalgamatirig their seMces under the "neutrai" umbrella of institutionalized social services. The case-specific and collective political consequences of eliminating funding to women's se~cesand of establishing central social institutions as the mother ship of care, are discussed hem. This discussion is critical to understanding both what encumbers political strategy under the Harris goverment 'and why the sheer stmggle to keep women's services alive, although no doubt a politicai fight, is not a political strategy.

The direct removal of funding to both women's services and advocacy groups is devastating to the women's movement. When women's seMces and organizations shut dom, jobs, organized politicai allies and nsources are lost. The organiwitioas and services that remah are burdened with the overload Furthermore, women's se~cesare affected by fiinding cuts to other social services. For example, since it is now harder to get legal aid and subsidized housing ip Ontario, women stay in shelters longer. Ghidaine Sirois, exsutive director of Action ontarimne contre

[a violence faites aux femmes in Ottawa, explains how the staff at women's shelters not only have more women to protect, comfixt and support, they must wwdevote extra time to tracking dom subsidized housing and legal aid that just might not be avaiiable at the end of the search 55 (Interview. Ghislaine Sirois: November 20, 1997).M The more resources - the, energy, money - expended delivering and locating services, the fewer are available for doing politics.31

Since resomes have been made scarce, women's pups and se~cesare either cornpethg for grants or waiting to hear whether or not municipalities cm supply their organizations with the money the province once did. Added to the factious effects of competition is the political fear of funding loss (Sirois). "There is a lot of insecurity because of the state of affairs. It is not just about keeping senrices open. it is also about people keeping their jobs9'(Ibid).

Political friction and the women's movement are certainly not strangers. An obvious source of fiiction in the movement's evolution has been the fact that white, middle-class, heterosenual intensts have far tw often shaped the public face of feminism and left the concems of more marginalized women in the shadows (BrisLin in Wine and Ristock 1991: 26-29). However, the present political tensions in Ontario are of a devolutionary rather than evolutionary disposition. According to Beverly Bain and Sungee John, the Natioaai Action Commitee on the Status of Women's (NAC) Southem Ontario CO-representative,women's groups that want to stay alive

and keep theu funding are moving to the right (Bain, Interview. Sungee John. September 18, 1997). The competition over dwindling nsources has acted on and exacerbated divisions and tensions over race and class within and between women's groups (Ibid). In short, the very shand political goals and values that are responsible for the unity and diversity of the women's movement - that have made a women's movement possible - are behg exchanged for the money to continw se~cingthe needs of women.

Sc+ the Oniario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAïïH), bcked & Lrp Out: Impacts of üu Progtcssivc Conseniative budget curs and policy inirUltives on obicsrd women rurd their chiùiren in Ontario. (Novcmber 1996). 31Examp1csof tbc consaaino that women's organizatiom arc anently under are plentifid. A phone caii to Z'k Cocrliiion of wiblc Minon'ry Womn eiicited the foiiowing tesponse hmmutive director Elaine Prescod. *No, 1 do not have time to meet with you Hams has cut al1 of our funcihg and I am the only paid stanperson here with tbrec volunteetsn (Interview. Haine Rcscod: January 15,1998). What has happened in and to the Ontario Women's Directorate (OWD) since the Harris government's incumbency, himishes an example of a decisive move to the nght and, furthemore, of the stüling contradictions that arise when shared political goals are sacrificeci for the divided interests of immediate survival. The OWD is a bureaucratie branch of the provincial govemment that has existed since 1980. It does not have its own jurisdiction. Its mandate is to review the gender content of policies initiateci by other ministnes and to serve as an intemal advocacy agency for women's equality "in ali aspects of their Lives" (Alboim in Andrew and Rodgers 1997: 222). The OWD has been instrumentai in gathering women from across the province to discuss, in pacticular, the implementation of women's training programs and the writing of pay equity and employment equity policy - projects of the Rae government.n The OWD also administem the budget for violence agahst women; this is to ensure that the money aiiocated to the Ministry of Social Services, for example, is spent on women's shelters and not something else. Further, the OWD, is a place within the state's infiastruchue where paid the and energy may contribute to advancements for women.33 It is, however, a part of govemment and is thus constrained by the systemic practices of govertunent and by its hiersrchical organization. For example, Susan Kasurak who workd at the Women's Directorate for eight months as an information officer during the Harris government's inception, describes her

32 For example, the OWD was dircctly involwd in the implementation of the Ontario Training and Adjtutment Board (OTAB).OTAB owes its conception to the Liberal Party under David Peterson (1985 - 1991) and its implcmentation to the NDP under Bob Rae (1991-1995). OTAB providcd government Eraining and money thmugh a "partncrship structuren Le., made up of tcprescnt ativcs hmbusiness, labour and intetest groups - tcachcrs, aboriginals, &ai minoritics, the disabled, and women. Through OTAB, training was no longer under thc auspices of a govenunent rcsponsible to an elcctcd majoritatian legislature. In other words, the task of sdministecing training was simply handcd over to this Board of partners dong with a budget (Walkom 1994: 105-107). OTAB was dismantled by the Harris government, 35 In "Institutional Structure as Change Agent: An analysis of the Oaho Women's Directonte". NdAlboim argues that the irony of the rote of the OWD is chat "the greater the political will to achicve quaiity for women, the less important the structure is. Institutional structure becornes much more critical when thete is lcss political wiil in order to ensure that these issues continue to meive the priority attention they QIserven (Andrcw and Rodgers 1997 226). 1disagrec. 1tbink tbat the OWD cmonly be effective when thcrt is a clear politid will to achieve cquality for women dgexternal pressure on govtrnmcnt institutions. Ad., in €kt,the gteatcr the politicai wüï to actiievt equality for women, the more important tbis structure is as a meastue of the nlationship between the women's movement and the state, That is, the more a part of the govcrnmcnt the OWD is and the less it is co~ccted to the women's movement, tbe more controversial is the relatîonship between the women's movemtnt and the state. My argument is derived duectly hma knowfedgt of the indpolitics of tbe OWD undet the Hams government. position at the OWD as follows: "Haif of our work invoived propping up the minister to make her sound good on an issue which would eventuaiiy have very little impact" (Interview. Susan Kasurak: October 8,1997). Further, the politics of the OWD.like aü branches of the bureaucracy, are susceptible to the winds of leadership changes.

The Ontario Women's Directorate's (OWD)institutional grounding as a branch of the provincial government's bureaucracy tends to get overlooked by women's movement activists who have no intra-governmental experience as well as by the staff of the OWD itself. According to Susan McMurray ,who worked in the OWD from March 1988 to the summer of 1994, activists have often shunned the directorate for not king more effective when, in fact, the OWD cm be most effective in response to public pressure (Inte~ew.Susan McMurray: September 25, 1997). In other words. the OWD does not replace the need for activism. On the contrary, its political power is derived directly from activists who push govemments for institutional change as representatives of a dissatisfied public. Furthemore, employees of the OWD are not activists in their paid positions; they are bureaucrats. This dœs not mean that they cannot be activists beyond their work. It does mean that their bureaucratic positions should not be confuseâ with activism (Kasurak; McMucray). If they are, a potentially dynarnic relationship between women working for the advancement of women from within govermerit and those worluig for a simiiar cause nom non-govemmntai locations, is undermineci and. the hierachical, bureaucratic culture that threatens to dilute the force of the women's movement's state-dirrcted goals is downplayed instead of resisted (Ibid).

In its short history, the bey days of the OWD coincide with the Rae govemment's office. The OWD's budget increased from $20 miilion under the Peterson govemment to $1 10 million under the Rae government. This money meant that the Rae government provided core fiuiding to 25 women's centres across the province and was able to hcrease the staff (KasuraL).x When the

Y Dcspitc an effort to obtain the numbe~on &and budget incrcases and deffuscs, two separate staffmcmbers at the Ontario Women's Directorate Wmed me that this information was rmavailable. Harris govemment came to power, the staff was reduced kom 80 to approximately 25 and the budget feii (see note 34). Downsizing occurred dong union hes. Ontario Public Service Employees' Union (OPSEU)members were ammg the fitto be laid off. The divisions between OPSEU-member workers and and non-OPSEU-member workers had been agitated by the civil servants strike in February and March of 199631 And, whea the reductions in staff were introduced, it was clear to some that senior management did not attempt to protect the staff (Kasurak). According to Susan Kasurak, who was one of the ûrst to lose her job to the lay-offs, the management did not rush to aid its staff and salvage the heaith of the O\ND because they were ioo busy protecthg their weii-paying jobs (Ibid). In the aftermath of this disjunction, exacerbateci by the racial politics that were tainting the agency before the Harris govement, and in the wake of the cuts to its budget and staff, it is hard to imagine what the OWD is doing right now @id).% Not incidentally, it is hard to find out?

It is sagnge that an advocacy agency could not even advocate on its own behalf. Indeed, it raises questions about the meaning of a state-bound advocacy agency. Mer aii, the OWD's advocacy apparently cannot be seen or felt to disrupt the interests of the people and pacty in office.

The ncarly six-wcck long sü;e by the Ontario Pubiîc Service Employees Union (OPSEU) involved a dispute over the Harris govement's plan a laysff bttwccn 13,000 and 27,ûûû employas ovcr the next two yesrs. The pensions and labour rights of OPSEU mcmbcrs wen also at s-, thnatcning to place OPSEU members in a worsc cmployment situation than private scctor workers. OPSEU kadc~hippointeci to the contradiction in the goverment's economic plan: Accorùîng to the Harris govanment, civil servants' jobs and pensions netdcd to be cut because the govenunent couid not aord to do orhtcwisc. At the same ththe govenunent was talking about keeping its promise on tax cuts which wouid wst the govanment betwan 4 and 5 billion dollars (Walkom, Thc Toronto Star. March ch4, 1996: B4). 36 Susan KantrPlr anplains that the directorate was suRering hmstatfconflicts over issues of race. She amibutcd much of the racial tensions to white women not king willing to be criticizcd for thcir dominance and for their inattention to issues of race (interview. Octobcr 8,1997). in an attempt to balance

Most importantly, the existence of an agency advocating women's equaiity under the Harris government does not even amount to a political concession. It may weIi be politically prudent for the OWD to continue to exist, if ody for the govemment education, training and jobs it provides women. However, it must be said that the goal of advocating women's equality within the confines of the Harris govemment's politics is next to absurd.

Slightiy absectecl fiom the direct attacks of the Harris government's cuts, are the structural and discursive changes to the provincial laysut of social spending that have affecteci women's organhations and services. The women's movement is losing its political identity as an independent social issue and set of se~ces.For example, violence funding is king channeled into children's aid and the board of education and women's organizations in general are behg told to sign up with victim's services to do advocacy work (Bain). These social institutions have nothing to do with the prevention of violence against women. Why, then, shodd organizations that have been successfidly administering programs to prevent violence to women and to help sunrivors of such violence nirn to these institutions for any kind of support? Why are children's aid and victim's senrices considered vduable in their own right when women's services are not?

Through fînancial luring, women's services are king centraüzed into mainstream institutions. As one activist said "[e]ventuaUy women's services will not exist as women's senices anymore; we wili not even recognize ourselves" (Ibid). That is because, through stlcamlinuig and amalgamation women's seMces wiii case to have a nme and a community of their own. To make mattem worse. grant funding now fdsuader the rubric of "economic development". This meaas that women's services have to present themselves as somehow economicaily productive - at least by posing as job training facilities - in order to be candidates for provincial funding (Sirois). Economic development and women's services are nothing short of incompatible. Perhaps in a completely privatized system, where, fiighteningly enough, servicing battered women is a profit-making venture, the words "job-training" and "productivity" apply. Afflxing the language of economic development to sinking services that have just nceived an icy blow fkom the provincial govemment's huiding cuts, however, conveys total ignorance about andlor disconcem for what women's services do. The women's movement is being economicaily coerced into confonning to the Harris govemment's tenns of restructuring. Because the provincial govemment is a life-source for women's seNices, it bas the power to orchestrate ihis conformity.

Taking Action Women's groups continue to protest the Harris govemment's politics even in the face of tremendous political and hancial pressure. Public protests initiatexi by women's groups as well as those in which women's groups have participated in high profile have resuited in numerous coalitions - between women's groups, other commmity groups and labour unions. It is important to acknowledge just how women's groups have remonstrated against the Harris govemment befoce delving into what the women's movement seems to be missing, that is, a political strategy that challenges the very tools of the Hanis government's agenda - its abuse of democratic power and its rearticuiation of social and political values including a cachet of culturai wisdoms on work, family and personal integrity.38 This section of the chapter examines the constitution and character of the women's movement's actions against the Harris govemment

Fa a discussion of tbe Hanir govement's ceartidation of cuituraf widom* see chaptcr one under the hcading Yme politics of the Hams govenimcnt" kginning on page 32 to date and considers activists' strategic prescriptions in light of the argument, presented in chapter one, that the Harris government is practising an ideological politics.39

The fmt major public action against the Hanis goverment was initiated by a group of ferninist activists at a meeting of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC); this was the 'Zmbarrass Hhs" campaign. Carolyn Egan, long-the feminist activist and cumnt director of a Birth Control and VD Information Centre in Toronto, describes the inciting force of the 'bEmbarrassHarris" carnpaign as a group of mostly Young, radical feminists who dacided that they were not going to sit back and watch the Harris govemment do its dirty work (Interview. Carolyn Egan. Febmary 2,1998)." The "Embarass Harris" group organized a protest on the inaugural day of the Harris goverment in June of 1995. In August of 1995 the group joined forces with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) to protest again before Queen's Park. By September of 1995, the "Embanass Hamis" group had gained considerable momentum and support. In collaboration with the Labour Council of Metropolitan Toronto and York Region, a "large and angry rally" was organized in fiont of the legislature at Queen's Park in Toronto.

Tens of thousands of people himecl out on the day of the Harris govenunent's fmt throne speech in September of 1995, to send the message to Ontario that this governent 'bviil not go unopposeci" (Turk in Ralph et al. 1997: 165). It was a loud public signal that those affected by the Harris goverment's proposed agenda and the 21.6% slash to welfan rates would not watch their services cmble(Egan).

The second major antitiHarrisgovernment initiative happeneci on December 6,199531 This was the launchhg of the "Ontario Women's Declaration". The Declaration was instigated by Le Tableau Feministe, an organizatiori of close to 25 Francophone women's groups of diverse

s9 For a bMsummq of the he po1itics as ideologid. sac the conclusion of cbper one beginning on page 48. 40 This action took place immediatdy aftcr tbc AIlM govanment was clcctcd to powa. 41 The annivasaiy of the Montreai mapgcrr was chosen u the declaratoty date so Qt women hmail communitia and regions coud trrpre% blatantiy the tinlt betwccn violence against women anci the Harris govemment's cuts to social assistance, education, beaith, worhm ptoiection, daycarc, etc. (Fireweed. Issue no. 51/52: 8-13. political orientations (i.e. women in education, women in business, women workiag to prevent violence against women, women working against women's poverty) (Sirois). The introduction to the Declaration nads: "We, the wornen of Ontario, have assembleci together to declare our opposition to the policies of the Consemative government, and to demand a radical change in the way it govems the province"(Fireweed, Early Spring 1996, Issue no. 5 1/52: 8). The Declaration then lists the legislative changes that the Harris government had both made and promised to make since its inaugural day in June of 1995 (Ibid: 8-17). Even though this protest involved broad consultation, consisting of local meetings of women fiom di regions of Ontario, the group's Declaration was criticinxi for its pnsumptuous, 'We the women of Ontario..."( Sirois). Eventuaiiy, however, 2H1 organizations fiorn across the province signed their names to the Declaration and, thus, to this powemil statement: "îT]his govemment's policies will systematicdy increase the poverty, vulnerability and dependency of women... women will take a!l steps necessary to secure and defend women's legitimae rights against these attacks" (Ibid).

The immediate goal of the Declaration was to publicly profess the position of an organized mass of women's groups representing the interests of women in Ontach and to malce clear that women are interpreting the cuts to social services as a loss of theu political rights as citizens (Ibid). The longer term goal was to have over 1,000 women's groups, uade unions, community groups and solidarity cornmittees endorse the document by March 8th, International Women's Day and, thus, to have it serve as a common pladorm for this event and perhaps others in the future (Ibid). The Declaration did xnake a stroag, welî-supported public statemnt. But apart from this forthnght civic announcement (the public effect of which is impossible to measun) and the one discernible outcome - ameliorated integration between anglophone and francophone women's groups (which should not be too quickly dismissed) - the declaration lost momentum quickiy and died (Ibid).

Women's groups have ban vocal and visible participants in the Ontario Days of Action against the Harris govemment. The Days of Action were initidy a labour project instigated by the 63 Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) at its November 1995 convention. The idea was to organize a series of community shutdowns. There have been eight days of action in the following locations: London, Hamilton, Waterloo Region, Peterborough, Toronto (2 days), Thunder Bay, North Bay md Windsor. There are two more planned, one in Kingston and the other in St.Catharines. Each day has so-far resulted in varying degrees of political success. One of the major criticisrns of the events has been the lack of concrete foliow-up efforts to maintain and build the social and political bon& that had formed during the day-long events (Turk in Ralph et al. 1997: 165-176). The major success of the days has been their cultivation of community spirit and their induction of widespread political discussion (Ibid),

The organizational leadership of each Day of Action was a cooperative effort between one representative from labour and one from the community. A large number of the cornmunity representatives were women's movement activists (Egan). In addition, a member of NAC sat on the steering commiaee for the Days of Action, otherwise comprised of labour representatives, and assisted in the organization of these cross-provincial comrnunity shutdowns. The NAC voice was instrumentai; it enabled people with disabilities to protest by insisting on having whoelchair transportation. NAC also made certain that people with disabilities could see and be seen as active paniçipants in the commmity fights against the Harris govemwnt (John). In conjunction with the Days of Action, NAC organized a five-speaker panel on the impact of the Harris governmtntsscuts on women. In sum, the women's movement has worked to expanci the meanhg of community in the Days of Action against the Harris government and to tie labour interests to community interests broadly-defincd. This can ody be seen as important political work. Still, this work has not produced a strategic politics beyond the Days of Action themselves,

Coaiitions between womn's groups and labour an growing. This is a political hnt upon which there is much agreement in the women's rnovement (Egan). The "National Women's March Against Poverty: For Bread and Roses" hmMay 14th to Junc 15,1996, is an example of a large-scale coalition between labour and the women's rnovement. It was a joint effort between the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and NAC. NAC's grassroots organiPag was largely responsible for the marcb's success but the CLC's contribution through staffjing and financing was invaluable (John). Increased collaboration between women's groups and laboui42 bas transpired in large degree from the clear recognition of shaced interests in the harsh times created by th& govemment (Ibid).43 And, the development of MerLinks betweea labour and women's groups is a priority for leaders in the women's movement. For example, Sungee John, CO-representativefor NAC Southem Ontario, identifies the link between labour and women's groups as fundamentai to the women's movement's fitute (Ibid). Gbislaine Sirois, a central organizet of the ''Ontario Women's Declaration" and executive cürector of Action Ontarienne contre lo violence faites aufemmes, is convinced that unions need to k approached once again and that women's groups have SUnot done enough work on this political prow.

Unions are important political allies for the women's movement not only for their human hd financial resources44 but because women's political issues are inextricably tieâ to labour's - i.e. pay equity, employment equity, child care, the family wage, workers' benefits, matemity leave and, certainiy, labour's role in the general pursuit of social and economic justice9 Of course, labour-has the power to remove labour - a politicai and economic threat to any govemment.

The relationship between women's groups and labour is not Wettered. John describes it as sensitive, mainly because of the discrepancy in resoutces. For instance, the 'Nationai Mar&

42 In Ontario, 1 am thinking specifically of incdcollaboration batween NAC and the OEX. 43 For example, the OF'held a women's conference in early Much. Tüe purpose of the conference was to help women dcvelop political skills and to provide women with the background and resourcts to be more politicaiiy efftctive. * For example, IntemationaI Women's Day has long-rcüd on fiinding hmthe United Stcclworlrers of America and the Canadian Auto Workers to pay for the printing of public announcemcnts and the tentïng of Convocation Hall. The "Women's March Against Poverty: For Bread and Roses, Jobs and Justice " was largeiy hdcdby the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).NAC reccives annuai donations hmthe OFL. a Se, for example, Womcn'J Work A Report by rlic Cimuthkibour Cbngrar (1997). in wbich the introduction states: The tffccts of economîc changes on women in industrializcd couutries are gedyignorai by poticy makots and treatcd as genckr-neutral. We know tbis is not tbe case, We lcnow fhm our dyshand our -ences that sccmingiy neutral policies have diffcftntiai impacts on women and okcquaiity-saking groupsn. Against Poverty: For Bread and Roses, Jobs and Justice" (May 14th to June LSth, 1996) was a cooperative effort between NAC and the W. However, since the CLC donated the money, there was a sense of cornpethg interests and a feeling that one side of the partnership was more valuable, it having supplied the capital for the project (John). So, although women's groups did the grassroots organizing, thereby providiag the valuable assets of labour and politicai skiiî without which the event could not have taken place, they did not sbare the leadership with labour because they had not supplied the money. John explains that financial coucems are common in collaborations between organizations. In this particular case, she contends that the nlationship between NAC and the CLC had tensions on both sides. but that in the end the two organizations gained respect for one another and a better understanding of the issues each other face. in general, labour has become more grassroots in its political associations and activities sincc the Harris govemment's inception. For example, the OFL is cumntly involved in an equal pay coalition, a child care coaütion and an anti-poverty coalition. The OFL has also been active, at various levels, in the fight to salvage the health of Ontario's Healthcare services (Interview. Ethel LaValley: Febnsary 3,1998).

It is worth noting that in the midst of mass protesting, women's groups have fought their own individual batties. Sector by sector, women's services have had to face the threat of fiinding loss. In response, womcn's groups have launched their own particular advocracy campaigns in addition to participahg in the generai fight. For example, biah control and sexual health centres across the province engagcd in a year-long campaign, beginning in 1997. to remah Myfunded by the province. It w& to no avail. The future of their fiinding now rests wiih municipaiities. Sexual health centres across the province are in limbo as they wait to tind out if their respective municipalities wiii pay for the perpetuation of their se~ces.Recently, a sema1 health centre in Hamilton that has existed since 1932 was granted municipal hding by the narrow margin of a single vote (Figan). Strategic Thinking When asked what the women's movement needs to do to resist and counter the Harris govenunent's devastating political agenda, rnost of the activists consulted said: "more". Specifically, they prescribed mon coaütion building, mon grassroots organizing, more contact with unions, more rallies, more mobilizing and more public awareness achieved througb education. Some suggestions were explicit: Martha Friendly, long-the child care activist and NAC member, avernd bat the women's movement needs coalitions that produce numben, that are able to speak to the general population - coalitions, that is, with a broader public support base than the labour movement (Inte~ew.Martha Friendiy: October 22, 1997). Friendly also advised rallying around particultir issues for which definite plans of action could be constnied and advocated. John insisted that the ultimate goal of the movemnt must be to have an impact on legislation. She argued that this line of attack requires policy research and thus calied for a better alliance between grassroots organizers and academics. On a grander scale, John noted that NAC has kengranted Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Couricil of the United Nations. One of the goals is to embamiss the feded govemment internationally ir., "Canada is a signatory on many Conventions that guarantee the basic rights for women that are not reflected in the cut-and-slash approach the Liberals have foilowed in their policies since 1993" (John).

More organizing, more mobilipng, building more coalitions and working to have an impact on legislation by way of exerting international pressure on the state wiil no doubt yield some positive nsults. However. although these strategies are what have gotten the women's movement to where it is today, they may not be enough to ensure that the movement, as a real politicai force for women's equaiity and social justice, is here in the future. A clue to the inability of these political methods to penetrate the source of their discontent resides in the very words and expenences of women's activists.

Irtespective of their activism, womn have witnessed the Harris govemment dismantle big pieces of the social and political structure of their histoncal accompiishments, those that have improved the lives of women via the state Le., thiough state-tùnding of services and thmugh the expansion of the state's social policy responsibiîities on behalf of women. Resumcting women's services to their pre-Harris govenunent condition would require more than mobilizing, raiiying and coalition building. Beverly Bain maintains that it is indeed impossible to reverse the clock: When you destroy the infrastructure, it's a heii of a thhg to put it bac&. The economic base has aiready been changed. Wornen's semces can never go back to the way they were. It twk the women's movement so long to put these services in place (Bain).

It is worth noting that this now frayed and severed net of women's services is the very place where women have gone when the law, however progressive it may appear to be at times, does not protect them fkom abuse or discrimination. Legislathe gains are certauily important, but examining the de facto delivery of services can expose the law for king mostly symbolic. For example, Carolyn Egan observes that despite the constitutional victory that granted women the nght to access to abortion (Van Wagner 1988)' the deterioration of health services due to hospital closuns and budget cuts means that the services a woman needs to have an abortion might not be avdable.

Women's groups that have been supporteci by state-financing for years and in some cases decades, are now being abandoned to the instability and insecurity of municipal finaacing. Not sûrprisingly, activists in the movement report that they are in desperate search of ways to de sense of the sudden disappearance of their communicative terrain with the state.4 As observed in chapter one, the Harris govement's tearing domof the province's social bt~~cturehas been executed rapidly and with iittle to no consultation. This has placed women's groups

Although not spccifidy about the women's movementbscommuniea

Simüarly, Elaine Pnscod, the executivedirector of the Cwlirion of Visible Minority Women in Toronto, conveys her organization's relationship to the Harris government by saying: 4 have been trying to get in touch with somebody, anybody in this govenumnt for weeks now. At least you couid talk to the NDP" (Interview. ElabRescod: Ianuary 15, 1998).

Friendly mocks the Harris govenunent for what she sees as an absurd approach to goveming in Ontario. At the same tirne, she addresses the disabhg effect its politics have had on the women's movement. She goes on to argue that this govemment is corrupting the very language used to spicabout women's issues, for exampie, by defhgequal treatment as equality rather ' than qua1 opportunity and by promoting a 1950's notion of "the famiiy" in whicb the motber is at home tending to the childm and the father brings home the bread. Not only, then, do activists sec themselves as having been discomected hmthe political process, but they ais0 recognize that their language has boen reaniculated by this government to have different, indeed coatradictory meanings, thereby frustrating their particular advocacy 'efforts ihat receive fat less media attention than do the govemmnt' s words.

Martha Friendly argues, however. that the federal government's withdrawai fiam legislative and fiscal social welfare responsibilities (see chapter one, pages 27-29) reflects a more subtle and thus interesthg politics than that of the Harris governrnent. She thenfore bernoans the fut that the greatly diminished federal involvement in social welfan has been received quietly compared to the politics of the Klein and Harris govemments. However there is a distinct and indeed interesthg difference in the provincial politics of the Hhsgovemment and the federai politics of the Chrdtien government, of which Friendy's very politicai experience with these two respective governments is a testament.

According to Friendy, the child-care advocacy ageacy she directs nmains weii-connected to the federal govenunent whereas it has virtually no relationship with the provincial Child Cm Branch. For instance, when the Harris government cut the project's funding, Friendly was able to have it replenished with federai dollars. There is communication between the federal bureaucracy and the child care movement, at least under the Liberal govemment. In contradistinction, Friendly describes her organization's relationship to the Child Care Branch of the Harris govemment as foilows: 'They have been told mot to speak with us... 1don? know what they do over there". So, although the federai governent indeed created the space for the Harris government to do its dirty work and has escaped the brunt of politicai attacks for

. provincial policies that in fact originated with its own, it cemains me that the Harris govemment's character and method of governing mark a new style of politics in Ontario. The Harris government is not only obstinate and reticent, it simply is not avdable to communicate with certain political interests. The Harris govemment is not just practising neo-liberal restmcturing, it is cuitivating a political culture of disdain for state-supporteci social programs.

Despite the near absence of politicai communicatioa between the Harris govemment and members of the women's movement, the desire to work with the state remains. Oddly enough, working with the state pnsently means working without the state or entering the main stceam of social senrices where the effectiveness of women's services and the identity of women's politics wiU no doubt be diluted if not washed away.47 The second wave of the women's movement has

47 Thû was ch definitive issue in the battlt over the Women's College Hospical in Toronto, the oniy hospitai in the province offering special services to women, nie Toronto Women's Collage Hospital launchcd a court chalienge against the Harris government wbcn the govemment's Juiy 1997 report on the amalgamation of Toronto hospitals did not guaranice the Coiiegc a separate s&tus as a Women's CoUege aftet it amalgamated with Sunnybrook Health Services Centre and Orihopedic and Arthtitic Hospital, Tht govament commission's linal niling on the amalgamation - Fn'day August 29,1997 - acccptcd the College's demands for sepatate status. It rcmains to bc seen exactiy how this separate statu will opctate. occupied itself primarily with intra-welfare-state issues, specifically with how to expand the social justice and social welfare responsibilities of the state. It has acted with and within the state to ref~rmthe state and has, in the process, become very good at this political methoda

The second wave of the women's movement has assumed that social progress occurs progressively i.e., that what has been achieved in the past will be built upon in the futun dla women's movement is no longer necessary. However, now that the very idea of a social welfare state itself is under attack by those who see it as an interference in the fteedom of the inàividuai rather than a guardian of citizens' nghts and keedoms, the mandate of the second wave appears as a politics of luxury, a politics of abundance that must be trimmed to aileviate the debt burdcn and to make room for expmding global markets that have few rernaining places to go."

Although wornen's groups have united in protest against the Harris govemment, under conditions of extreme economic and political pressure, my interviews suggest that the wornen's movement has not formed a plitical strategy that acknowledges how the Harris govenunent is contciîuting generously to the changing form and character of the state - its stnictures and language. This conclusion echoes Sheila Rowbotham's insights into the weaknesses of movements. Rowbotham argues that movernents have two major bgiiities: (i) they tend to forget where they came from because they are not iinear in their development but rather temporal

Monica 'Ibrclf' writcs that state-demands have defineci the women's movewnt everywhuc: "In all counûies, the vast majority of feminists' claixns, whether to qua1 rights, control ovet our bodies or matcmity protection, involved directing demands at the state for taw refonn or state provision of facilities and bcnefits. Movernents have grapplcd with public institutions, the hcalth -ce, the education system and the courts in ail countrics...Tk public domain of institutions and the law has thus providcd an immensely succtssful anna of feminist intervention, a devetopment wùich bas done much to significantiy alter society's understanding of what constitutes a public or a prime sphere and a woman's mle witbui it" -Ml 1996: 290-291). 9 1am thinking herc of Gary T&p*'s concise cemarks on the rcqUmments of apiîai in cht gi0b.l cconomy: "Ibc imperatives of the global economy have made it necessary to ovefc~meIocai and national barriers to accumulation. Fundamentai to these barriers is îhis complex set of ptoperty fomis [which he expfains in prcceding paragraphs] othtr than capitalist ptopcrty, dong with scmi-autoaomous state stnicaues with the political power co definc and establish such altanative nghts. To bave aii property in the form of private propcsty is to maLt it open to capitalist accumulation or to remove its opposition to capitalist private ptoperty, so that the process of concentration and centralization can ptoceed woddwide qaple 1995: 78). 71 and contextual and, (fi) they are liable to mort to the repetition of past protests when the changes they desire are large and seemhgly out of range (Rowbotham in Tbnlfall 1996: 13).

Regarding the fithsight, women's activists in Ontano are presently fighting to regain the very state-centred reforms that more radical and left-wing femiists once considend a compromise, a way, simply, of containhg the movement. In having to fight not to fall tw far hmthe state's care rather than to move ahead with the help of the state, the women's movement as a whole is being reminded that the character and contents of the state are subject to radical change in any direction. No political gain whether or not it is entrenched in lawso or attached to the state bureaucracy, is secure. As a political force responsible for constitutional, state-structurai aad public policy changes, the women's movement bas, in fact, grown out of this very understanding of plitics.

Refîecting the second of Rowbotharn's insights, the Ontario women's movement's cumnt attempts to hold onto past gains may well win some concessions, but this political approach does not ascend to the grandeur of what is at stake. The Harris govemment's restructuring agenda, as discussed in chapter one, amounts to a redefinition of the state; social reform is dien to its new meaning. Certainly the political activity of the women's movement in the wake of the Harris govemment has been critical to keeping the voice of the women's movement alive by exposing the province's faces of discontent, the majority of which, not coincidentally, are women's face0 This is a valuable form of mistance to the Harris govemment that would prefer these faces to be invisible. Stili, the women's movement's politicai action against this govemment

This refers to Charter of Righîs guaniitrco as weii as provincial policies iike pay equity and employment quity. 51 Accordhg to a Gh6e ond Mail report of a ment Angus Reid poli. fewer than one in threc women votcrs would suppoa the Conservatives in the next Ontario elaction. Tbis is compareci to almost one in two men who would "Changes in health can, ducation and social services arc major fw"in expiainiag this discrtpancy say fdt senior CollSCNativcs. iheu potiticai opponents and politicai amiysts interviewai about the poii ("Womtn spum Ontario Tories: Stratcgists seck to win them ove, Richard Mackie. 7kGtobc d MdDeccmber 30,1997: AlfA4)- speaks primarily to what has aiready been made alien; the women's movement is acting fiom outside this goverment's redefinition of public political space rather than contesting it.

The Road Ahead is Not Paved The road ahead of the women's movement in Ontario is neither smwth nor is it determined. There is no doubt that the challenges the women's movement confront under the Harris govemment are great, even overwhelming. However, a movement gives up its ability to move politics if its members submit to the belief that political motion is impossible fiom the places where they live and work. Linda Briskin writes: In emphasizing the depto which the political and historical conjunctwe shapes our choices, we ohlose sight of the very premise of a feminist politics -a beiief in our ability to make change (Briskin in Wine and Ristock 1991: 39).

This section of the chapter speaks to the message contained in the quotation above. For, it offers examples of political action that disrupt aspects of the discursive application of the Harris government's agenda and expose it for being just so - in word ody and not in fat - thenby opening avenues that transport poiitics to a less detetmined location. This fom of political action begins with disbelief, that is, with a rehisal to believe in the validity of the explanation given to an imposed political circumstance. More importantly, this form of political action enactiperforms disbelief on the very soil and with the very materials that the belief itself depends. Therefore, this action delegitimates politicai power by delegitimating the tools with which and the methods by which that power is obtained, [n other words, it is a fom of political action that transcends debate and challenges ideology.

Two exarnples of this form of political action are provided hem. One is of the women's movement specificaily, the other is of the Toronto Direct Action Cornmittee (TDAC) in collaboration with the Ontario Coalition Agaiast Poverty (OCAP). Begioning with the latter, the first example of a form of politicai action that has been able to escape the collusion inherent in sharing the lauguage of the Common Sense Revolution, has been deemed by Tony Clarke as 73 TDAC's "most successful action against the corporate backers of Harris" (Clarke in Ralph et d. 1997: 161). Clarke is speaking of TDAC's and OCAP's organization of an unorthodox shopping spm at a Loblaws grocery store in an upscale aeighbourhood in Tomnto. This action was arranged and performed in direct response to Social Services Minister David Tsubouchi's suggestions in November of 1995 that victirns of his cuts to welfare rates @y 21.6%) could negotiate cheapcr food prices with gocery store owners. The unorthodox shopping spne involved sending individual activists into the chosen grocery store to fiii their shopping carts to the brim. When each individual's pile of grocenes had been mgthrough the register and it was time to pay for hem, the cashier was handed a 21.6% "Dave's Discount" card with Tsubouchi's face on it. There was a stand-off as a result and five of the protesters were amsted for üespassing. Their case was won in court, however, because they subpoenaed Tsubouchi as the star witness for the defence since he had, after ail, advised those suff'ering fiom cuts to welfare, to Look for discounts. Tsubouchi had to admit that this was true. As a result, the charges were dropped (Ibid: 162).

This second example of an extra-discursive form of political action able to disturb the tacit boudaries of political power at a place where and tirne when political ground was being lost, involves the consultation over the Harris govemment's McGuire Report - A Fromcwork for Action on the Prevrntion of Violence Against Women in Ontario. Diane Cunningham, Minister responsible for women's issues, hired two consultants to do a report on the prevention of violence against women in Ontario. More specifically, the consultants were hùeû to determine how to "align" services for battered women with the "cumnt govemment's priorities". Some of the most contmversial materid in the report includes: (i) the amalgarnation of medical treatment for the assaulted, rape crisis cc?-Ling and shelter, and legal help into a single "community clinic" iinked to a hospital and, (îi) the limitation of stays in sheliers to 24 or 48 hours ( Michelle Landsberg. nit Toronto Star. Sunday December 15,1996: A2). In anticipation of the release of the McGuire Report, Minister Cunningham committed her mlliisüy to consulting with women working in the violence against women community. Thus, a forum for discussion was organized at George Brown Coiiege on Monday December 9,1996. A day and a half before the ccnsultation was to take place, the govemment released a four-page summary of the report to the revresentatives of the women's community who wew to attend the forum. This clearly deficient sum of information incensed the inviteci panelists from the women's community and set the tone of their interaction with government repnsentatives on the day of the fonun. For instance, once Diane Cunningham had introduced the fonun on the day of December 9th' members of the women's movement began fagquestions at the minister, orchestrathg what Landsberg describes as "the toughest, srmutest, most focused griiiing of a cabinet minister [she has] seen in decades" (Landsberg.The Toronto Star. December 11,1996: A2). The forum ended in what Lmdsberg calls "the wildest and yet most meaniiigfid act of civil disobedience its ever been [hu] pleasure to witness"(1bid).

The act of civil disobedience to which Landsberg refers, was provoked by the assistant deputy minister's rehisal to share the contents of the report under discussion, the very report that contained the material that the members of the women's community presumed fhey werc king invited to discuss22 The panel of women's activists demandeci repeatedly to see the report. The assistant deputy minister insisted that the report was not final and thus could not be distributed. One of the activists then questioned why the htof the document was stamped "inal Report". The assistant deputy minister retorted that the activists couid view the report once the cabinet rninisters had done so. This verbal contest persisteci for some tirne. 'Fiaiiy, in a crowning moment, one of the panelists quietly rose from her place, strode to the end of the table where the consultants sat, picked up the report and returned to her seat" (Ibid). In a panic, a consuitant purmed the panelist protesthg loudly that she would lose her job. At this point the panelist

2 Minister Cunningham had to lave the consultation pmceediags befoce thcy actuaiiy kgan (luidsbcrg. Toronto Sm.Deccmber t l ,1998: A2). 75 tossed the report behind her and hto the audience. The report was passed swiftiy to the back of the room and to a group of women who headed seaight to the photocopy room. Landsberg found the report on her desk the foilowing momhg (Ibid).

These examples of political action are powemil because they demonstrate a disturbance of formai politicai etiquette and unveil informal avenues of politicai power. For instance, the unorthodox shopping spree acts out Tsubouchi's political advice to welfare recipients and reveals its absurdity rather than engaging in an argument about social justice, social policy and the myths of poverty. For in the realrn of the politically discursive, the political contest is one of competing mythologies between the die hard stories of the left and the right. These stories resonate fdarity more than they are able to direct attention to what is going on now. They are confushg because each story carries pieces of reaiity but no single story completes the picture. The shopping spne escapes the task of arguing for social justice, of using words that are steeped in associations and corrupted by, for example, the language of the "Common Sense Revolution". Instead, the unorthodox shopping expeditioa draws attention to the systems and structures according to which we live and makes hem red at a tim when the government pretends conveniently that they do not exist The act demonstrated that the exchange of go& and services is not founded on common sense and, furthemore, that private property, unüke public propew, is not negotiable. We do not live in a the or a place when barte~gwith a grocery store owner to lower the cost of food is anything other than a nason to get amsted.

The power of the McGuire Report incident is similar in its momentary disregard for the legality and protocol of social and political conduct. It is different, however, in that it is a challenge to the practice of democracy rather than to the govemment's relationship to the private sector and to its description of how the private seztor operates. In the case of the McGhReport, the single act of taicing the report hom the assistant deputy minister and her burraucratic team of consultants, was a direct challenge to the authoiity of the provincial govemment and to its dekrmination of what constitutes public information. The act was borne of a recognition that a proper consultation could not take place if one of the two consulting parties was barred from the knowledge of the very matenal for consultation. It is interesthg to think that the withholding of information at the forum depended entirely on obedience, on the fact that noone wouid dan to intempt the tacitly understocxi physical order of social and political conduct at this govemment- organized event. However, someone did. And, this one simple act took the power of information guarded by the han& of a few and placed it in the hands of many, of many who held a special interest in its contents.

Conclusions The overwhelming impression obtained hmthe activists consulted for this chapter is bleak. The anger, fnistration and disillusionment this oral research found is expresseâ as both a desire to nturn to a pre-Harris politics and a resignation bom of exhaustion hmworking under a non- consultative government that resorts to dictatorial measures to achieve its goals and in social and economic conditions that deteriorate despite resistance?f Neither this nostalgia nor this tendency to resignation are naïve. Nevertheless, they prepare the women's movement to become an audience to the Harris government and thus to the movement's own decline and fU.

The political picaire cirawu by the activists consuited is not entirely dismal. Many women's groups and services have committed thernselves to organizing resistaoa since the Harris government's inaugurai day and continue to refuse this govemment's agenda. This year's rally cry for International Women's Day (March 8,1998) - 'We Won't Go Back ...We Won't Back Dom" - is testimony that leaders in the women's movement are nsisthg the redefinition of the state and intend to hold on to what the movement has fought to achieve over the last several

The Secfetacy-Tceasurcr of the Ontario Fcderation of Labour (OFL), Wbcl LaValley, rccounts an example of dictatorial politics she encounted as a membcr of the Rcnfrew County Restnicturing Committee. Sbexpiains how the commike was set up to have 4û% nprwantation hmthe commu&ty, 40% repr&nlition hmthe and 2096 rtpricscntation of outside intemts. Tbete happeneci to be four municipal council mcmbcrs on the committct whose coiiective vote C8ttied the baiancc of the decision. Wbcn it came tirne to vote, howevcr, the Harris govanment decided not to govt the municipal npttsentativcstbei Otdet in Councü. They were denicd a vote, just like that Tbentire dernomatic process was simply ignoced. It was, indttd unilatetally overriddcn (interview. Ethcl LaVaiiey, Febniary 3,1998). decades. in addition. critical links between women's groups, labour unions and other community groups have pwntremendously since the Harris government launched its attack on social services." Never before have the connections between labour, women's groups, community organizations and education sectors been so numerous and so strong in this province (Interview. Ethel LaVailey: February 3, 1998).

Nevertheless, the language of the Ontario women's movement's fight against the Harris govemment addresses a former political context in its attempt to retum to one. Alone and in association with other social movements, the women's movement is speaking a language of social refomi, a language it was able to share with the Rae govemment, but one that is imperceptible to the Harris govenunent's determined neo-liberal agenda? And, if the women's movement intends to include the state in its future, it cannot simply reject the transformation of the state's structures, powers and the language king employed to articulate this change but must conffont it direcily. Challenghg both the undemocratic tactics achieving this transformation and the cultural claims to common sense upon which a broad acceptance of the neo-liberal state depends, is cnticai to the sudval of the women's movement and to the possibility of its goals.

This chapter concludes by arguing that an exit from the women's movement's uncompromising economic and political circumstances involves (i.e. is not only about) ûeating the Harris government with the disconcern and tenacity that this government has treated most members of the public, particuiarly those Wons whom it designates "spezial ltenst groups". In other words, this is not a thne to play by the desof comfoaable state relations in mind of lowe~g the risk of funding loss. The abstraction of the Harris goverment's political language and its

Y Okrcommunity gmups includc, for example, ami-poveity organizations, coalitioas for social justice and social services associations. "Gary TctpIe argues that while rcsistanct movements to the neo-liberal agenda - rbc social and political counterpart to the globalization of production, distribution and cxchange - arc growing, they fmcwrmous odds. According to Ttcple, thse odds reftcct an economic transition bctwccn two phases in tbe developmcnt of capitaümn - nationaüy-based economic &veIopmcnt is being transfigured into a self-genetating global economy. As a conscquencc, the social and political institutions associateci with the national economy are questioned and bcgin a compatiMe traasformation (T'ceplc 1995: 45). 78 disregard for the democratic process dernanàs bold critical attention. This entaiis laying ban the chasms and crevasses that separate how things are said to be in political words from how they are seen to be materidy. It is a strategy of continuing to disrupt the social iliogic of popular political beliefs and the laquage that holds them together. More clearly, it is a strategy to demonstrate that the political decisions that create the circumstances in which the Harris govemrnent operates, depend upon the cultivation and dissemination of a set of incoherent, misleading and yet fdarwisdomVs for understanding public life. It is a strategy, too, with wisdoms of its own, A politics of ideology for the Ontario Women's Movement

Inchapter one, it is argued that scholarly Literature on the poiitical strategy of the women's movement's second wave is inadequate to the political challenges of the Harris govemment's politics. Academic debates over the women's movement's relationship to the state, nadythe mainsaaming-disengagementdebate, appear naive More the aggressive institutionai overhaui this govemment has named 'The Cornmon Sense Revolution". It is concluded that the interpretive cleft separating the strategic analysis of contemporary academic debates from the poiitical challenges of the Harris govemment, has to do with ideology. Specifically, it has to do with the centralit. of ideology to this govemrnent's politics and the marpuiality of ideology in Canadian iiterahire on the strategy of the women's movement's second wave.

According to Stuart Hail, ideology interpnts and signifies the very meanings of our shared political language and social codes. Ideological politics, then, is of a substance, depth and chanicter distinct fkom institutional or instrumental poüticsJ6 For while instrumental andfor institutional politics act kom within systems to reform or perpetuate them, ideology works at the level of the foundationai concepts, codes, values, traditions and beliefs that are nsponsible for the social and political

Institutionai politics arc poiitics

The Harris govemment's ideologicai poütics is contrasted to the poiitics of the Rae govemment by illustrating that the latter shared a political language with the women's movement in Ontario, if it did not share the movement's vision of social and political change. In other words, it was possible to negotiate social policies with the Rae govemment; it has been decidedly impossible to do so under the Harris govemment.

Chapter one ends by insisting that it is not enough for the women's movement, or any social movement for that matter, to simply record and protest the institutional renovations performed by this government. Rather, the dominant ideologies king articulateci to define the very ground upon which these renovations are king enactcd and upon which the women's movement is acting in protest, must be chaiienged.

Chapter two reiied on interviews with leacling activists hthe Ontario women's rnovement to provide insight into (i) how activists in the women's movement are interpreting the Harris govemment's political performance and, (5) how these interpretations are reflected in cumnt political strategies. It is submitted that although the women's movement has protested vehemently the politics of the Harris government, these protests have largely assumed their traditionai role of publicly denouncing the state for its faiiure to protect equaliy the rights of its citizens (iacluding the equal provision of their basic needs). This form of public protest ocaipies the political temtory the Harris govemmeat is abandonhg wîthout discussion, and speaks the social logic that the Harris govemment's "Common Sense Revolution" undermines. By continuhg to act here oniy aad to articulate its social and political goals through a language whose meanings are dominateci by opposing interests, the women's movement pnpares itself to stand staMng on a vacant lot, waiting for charity. 81 At the same tirne, chapter two recounts how the women's movement in Ontario bas expanded its political associations, particularly with the labour movement. This political collaboration signifies a clear recognition that an overall restmchiring is taking place and represents a desire to connect gender issues to a broad range of social and dewnratic rights at the level of politicai action. Even so, political action has not left its homestead where dernands to expand the welfare state once carried political cumncy, where marketplace pressures were state-managed to protect a standard of living and where state institutions, however reluctantly, acknowledged the existence of needs and services external to the marketplace - aspects of human being that cannot be commoâified because they do not fit the terrns of efficiency, productivity, growth and self-sufficiency. Of course, what is at issue hem, is not the value of working to protect and extend social welfare, but the cumncy of the language of social refom and the question of both its sustainability and possibility at a tiw when the state is being decisively defined by those elected to power, as the guardian of economic welfm at social welfare's direct expense.

The second chapter ends with examples of direct action said to (a) contest the discursive logic of the Harris govenunent's anti-social policies and, (b) challenge the ili character of its "democratic" methods. Like chapter one, the evidence in chapter two leads to the conclusion that the women's movement needs to rethink the locations and goals of its political work i.e., the womea's movement needs to address directly the particular fomof power that are eliminating the social meanings of the state. By the end of chapter two, however, this conclusion is arrived at through a better understanding of the obstacles on the road fkom condition to action.

Revisiting Ideology This ntum to the theoretical underpinnings of ideology discussed in chapter one, is întended to refïne the meaning of ideology as politicai strategy and to ariswer the following question in îight of the reseacch presented in chapters one and two: mat might a counter-hegemonic project look like for the women's movement in Ontario and what could it hop to achieve? To begin with, Stuart Haii is a ceairal figure in the Birmingham school of culhual studies borne of a direct challenge to Louis Althusser's contention that neither the subject nor experience could be ihc source or the measure of history since they are themselves, subject to the process of historical (specificaily ideological) determination (Grossberg in Blundeil et al. 1993: 28). In ohwords, Althusser's position would not dow the women's movement to step outside and judge the ideologies that restrict their Life possibilities or to imagine that these ideologies could be contested. For, to Althusser, ideology constitutes the imaginary material that is necessary to interpreting the present world (Bottomore et al. 1994: 251-252) ir., then are no ideological alternatives - at least noue that are reaily alternatives. However, because Althusser assigned the deteminhg moment of history to a distant "reai", thereby leaving present nality somehow "uareai" (deceptive), the theoretical space and thus compulsion to seek the specificity of the culturai dangied like a carrot before ihose theorists who wanted to expand the space of political possibility (Ibid)."

Ideology is not synonymous with culture. Indeed, ideology descnbes the processes of interpretation, articulation, signification and representation that occupy the indetedate realm of ever-contested meaning and life activity that is cded culture (Ibid: 53-54). The Birmingham school has been interested in the cultural as a site of political power that upsets, conhises and ultimately undermines the determination of class relations and of historicai materialism. The rehisai to accept the resolution of history alongside the refusal to abandon the materialist problematic altogether, has led the Birmingham centre in various directions, the most definitive of which has been towards the work of Antonio Gramsci.58 Gramsci's work on ideology and hegemony has been instnunental in the

See Lawrence Grossberg, The Formations of Culturai Studies: An Amcrican in Birmingham" in Relocating Cultural Studies: DeveIopmnts in Thcory ond Research (1993). Blundell et d. Eds,, for a history of the debates out of which the Birmingham school of culturai studics emergod 58 To Gramsci. ideology is aot conûncd to a class perspective. R is not me for Gnmsci, as it is for Mm,that cben exists (or existai) a proletarian class whose labour-driven, necessity-defined iives consign thcm to a statt of false consciousness - of not being abIt to set that thc socialcconomic system to which kybelong depends on the exploitation of their vecy labour. However, although Gramsci ccjccts class rcûuctionism - Marx's economic determlliism - hc adhem nonetheless to the immanence of the economicand to the revolutio~priority of the economic "Ui the ha1instance". He does not discard ciass, then, but exposes multiple ideological terrains autonomous hmclass - thru exist beyond or cegardhs of the ngid socio.cconomic categorization of class but upon which and betwcen which contraâictory class intctests may be linlraî to fonn a temporai and tenuous ethicai- culturai-poiitical wholc. school's radical shift into what has been cailed a ''coajuncturalist'' c~ih~alstudies and out of the nmwspace between two reductionisms - the reductionism for which the determination of history is paranteed and the reductionism for which an indetenninate history is guaranteed (Ibid: 50). In other words, historical structures are either assignecl a power of determinacy that is inexorable untii some near-mythical moment or, historical structures, social and political systems and cultures are considered to be completely open to social construction and reconstruction and, therefon, the possibility of believing in the construction of a better hiture is lost to incessant interpretation, persistent uiicertainty and ubiquitous change.

In brief, conjuncturalism njects necessary correspondeuces between people and between people and systems of power (economic, political, psychoanalytical) and thenby recognizes the need to investigate identities and not assume their paaicular relationships to various structures. At the same tirne, it dows for the reconstruction of an historical context in which a particular identity has been achieved. In other words, conjuncturalism honours histories of oppression. Conjuacturalism, then, grants ideology the power to reconstruct social relations fiom previously constructed relations of power and identity (Ibid: 51). Ideology is thus conceived as organic. It is living; it fceds on and gows out of already-forneci ideological material.

The conjucturalst understanding of ideology as neither an invention - a discovery - nor a determinhg fact of life, is key to the analysis of the Harris govemment's politics in chapter one and to the strategic conclusions drawn in chapter two. To look at the HUgovemment fiom a

Furthemore, although Gramsci dedicated his attentions to the material force of certain idcotogies at certain moments in history and hirrelationship to, not origins in, certain cconomic conditions, he did not propose a relativist theory of ideology in which concepts are rcducibte to the bistond situations to which they rcfcr (Hail et al. 197R 71). The foiiowing quotarion capmes the pith of the above comments and uses the word "conjunctureRin the sense that it is used in the main text of this argument: This conceni with specific analyses of ideologies - theu relation to cconomic class fowtion and the existence and degrcc of hegemony exaci& in a conjuncûm - is considered by Gramsci to bc a tbt0rttica.i precondition for pnaïcai inmentions by mantists (Ibid). conjuncturaüst's eye, is to see that the 'bpeople"categories of "mothei', ''weKlfa recipient", "father", 'Yamily" and "citizen", for example, have been assigned particular social, political and economic locations that are not inevitabie. At the same tirne, the conjunchiraüst position recogaizes ihat these "people" categories and their social, political and economic locations have a history and bat this history speaks to things that have bten achieved and obtained, to things that have happened. For example, the memory of a time when one might have bartered with a grocery store orner or even exchanged goods rather than money for goods, is alive. David Tsubouchi's prescription to those suffering hmcuts to welfare speaks to ihis memory. And, the memory of a mother in a kitchen preparing porridge for her kids befon school while father had alreaây gone off to work, to eam a famiiy wage, is also aiive. Mike Harris's comments on chiid poverty in Newfoundland speak to this memory.

Conjuncturaiism does not deny historical material relations. On the contrary, this theoretical position on ideology is derived from the understanding that the present acts upon history and out of history and, mer,that the history it acts on is itself a collection of ideologicai interpretations and not a transcnpt of facts about who we are an& thus, who we cm be. The Hamis govemment's ideologicai politics evokes historicai cultural materiai that is convenient to its goai to dismantle social welfare programs and social services. This materiai resonates culturai truths, not social and politicai rationde; that is its power.

The conjuncturalist conception of power is Foucauldian? It does not privilege particular fomof power by assuming, for example, that economic power is the principle source of subordination and thus the centre of domination. Rather, conjucturalism conceives of power as "a discourse of

$9 When 1say that power is Fouçauldian, 1 am thialMg of thio particuiar definition of power in Foucault's The Hi;srory of Sdi~:An Introciuction ((199û): "Powcr is cverywhete; not because it embraccs evcrything, but buseit cornes fiom evcrywhete. And 'Powcr,' insofw as it is permancat, reQetitious, inat and selfkeproducing, is simply the ovedl cffect that cmergts from all theu mobilitits, the concateaacion ibat tests on each of them and stcks in tm to artest theïrmovem~nt. One ne& to be nominalistic, no doubt: power is not an institution, and not a stnicture; neitber is it a certain sangth we are endowed with; it is the name tbat one aûn'butes to a cornplex stcategicai situation in a particular societyW(93). 85 domination and subordination which sees people living in complex and changing networks of social relations" (Ibid: 53). At the same the, this conception of power does not hold that al1 fomof power are equal. Instead, forms of power occupy temporary positions of subordination and domination. As argued in chapter one, the Harris govement's discourse of power is a collection of culturai wisdoms that amount to an incoherent and dated practical moralism. But this alone does not explain the Harris govertment's power. The question nmains: Upon what power does the cultivation of practical moralism itself rely? This question is central to strategizing a couattr- ideological politics. It is taken up later in this chapter.

Ideulogy as discourse, operates to renovate how people perceive their social and political contexts and their positions as subjects within it. This discursive realrn of activity is limited by conditions of existence that place constraints of the process of articulation itseif (HaU 1988: 10). More clearly, not anything can be articulated with anythuig else. These articulations must resonate familiar experience if they are to become common sense. This is when the Harris govemment's ideological poiitics are vulnerable. For, dthough this govemment's cachet of cultural wisdoms resonates the truth of experience thai is still alive in the contemporary, the experieaces (mernories) tbrough which these cultural wisdoms become individual beiief and truth are not cornmon.

As the discussion above implies, there are two levels or planes at which ideology as discourse operates. The htplane is the articulation of pacticular cultural texts, the articulated interpretations of the meaning of things i.e., the family is nuclear (mother at home), heterosexual and middle class. The second plane is when these texts are articulated to d social pnictices and conditions (to a context) (Ibid: 55) i.e., the Harris govemment is unioaduig the rubble of social welfare services and prognuns onto the nuclear famiiy. The important ciifference between the two planes is that the second is where the particular texts (sipifiers) are Me&through meanings, to bbsocialpositions and sociaüy empowered systems of connotation" (Ibid). So, it is at the second plane of articulation whtn specinc culturai texts cm become a common sense for the times, a common sense that implicates its recipients and propoaents in a cornmon project. This theory of the articulation of particular tex& to 86 conditions of existence, is denved fiom the theoretical conviction that there are historicaily and materiaiiy constituted fealities and, thus, that ideology operates ody to interpret these conditions but not to invent them (Ibid54).

Strategically speaking, the concept of two planes of articulation is important. For, what it indicates is that it is not the idea of the fWyitself that requires expansion. Aftcr dl, to expand its meaning sufficiently and stilI grant it political importance, is to engage in a complicated task. Rather, it is at the second plane of articulation, where the nuclear family, or any notion of the f'yfor that matter, can be dearticulated from social and political goals and projects and replaced by a much broder and inclusive conception of communal relations.

Designating the rniddleclass, heterosexual, nuclear family as the guardian of social weKare, then, is an example of a pacticdar social signifier ("the family") king articuiated to a "condition of existence". To Say that -edismantling of the weff' state is a "conditioriof existence", is to submit that the welfare state's present demise is not strîctly an ideological feat but a resdt of a complex of histofical, econornic, political and social forces that exist beyond the dmof interpretation but that are aven cultural significance through interpretation only, that is, through ideology.

Hegemony, Hegemonic and Dominant Ideologies Hegemony, as distinct hmdominant ideologies, rcfcrs to an historically specific political project by a partîcuiar social bloc with the goal of cultivating the political space to initiate an agenda Le. "a far reaching solution to its conception of a crisis"(ibid: 56). More simply, it is about obtaining a political leadership that contains oppositional ideologies and political positions without havhg to annihilate them. Therefore, an hegemonic project or victory does not necessitate the cultivation of consensus since, as pceviously stated, the contents of common sense are often contradictory. "An hegemonic bloc only needs to win popular assent to its position, to its conception of a crisis which demands a fat-reaching solution, not to its specific idedogical repnsentations..." (Ibid: 56-57). However, it is how this assent is caught in the wprp and weft of specifc ideologicai teptesentations (in the fabrication of a whole from otherwise individual threads) that makes the hegemonic project both vulnerable - it is not held together nanually or for any pregiven reason - and insidious because it is easy to overlook the threaâs that make the fabric9

It shouid be clarified that although any discussion of hegemonic politics is a discussion of class poiitics, this study is not interested specüicdy in analyzing the class dimensions of the Hams govemment's politics. It is interested in understanding the forms of power the Harris govenunent is practising to achieve its goals and wbat these forms of power and the substance of these goals represent to the future of the women's movement in Ontario and, thus, to the hiture Lives of women in this province. Exploring the relationship between structure and hegemonic politics, at even a theoretical level, promises to be a guide for how the women's movement cm hop to challenge the dominant character of the Harris government's anti-social articulation of ideologies in the face of deteriorating material conditions.6'

A politics that is hegemonic is not an hegemony. And, a politics that is hegemo$c in its conception and project is not necessarily hegemonic in its power. For example, the Harris govemment's politics are hegemonic in their conception and project because they aim to win popular assent for their neo- liôeral restructuring project on many ideological fionts - by attempting to dominate, for instance, the meaning of farnily, education, work, individual responsibility vs. social responsibility and citizenship. However, as Hall contends of Thatcherism, the Hams govemment's politics are not hegemonic but in their conception and project, because they have not shown themselves capable of

60 In the foUowing quotation. although Aikno Melucci is not referring to hegemony, his thoughts explah the use of the word vufnerable in reference to hegemony: "Contrary to the case of relationships based on matenal strength or physical power, in which those in possession of the grcatest share ofresources hold sway, hem the relationship hinges on the symbolic capacity to reverse meanings to demonstrate the arbitrariness of the power and its domination- And, it is enough to structure Wty using different words for the power monopoly over dtyto cntmble" (Melucci 1996: 358). Again, however, what this dots not say is what one's symbolic capacity to reverse mcanings and topple the monopoly of power depends on Le., how does one win ptople ovet to a reverscd bolism? Ttis critical to distinguirh hegcmony hmP pditics haî is kgemonic. Accordhg to AiII, a politics tbat is hegcmonic, aims "to struggle on several fionts at once, not on the economic-corpo~ateone alone; and this is basad on the knowldge that, in order dyto dombac and nstmcturc a social formation, poüticai, mord and inteiiectual leadership must bc coupled to economic dominance" (Hal1 in Scssop et ai. 1988: tû3). leading a populist politics. That is, the Harris governmnt has not succeeded in constructing "classes, groups and interests into a particuiar definition of 'the pple' "(Hall 1988: 7 1). What the Harris govemment has done, however, is to articulate the massive structural changes it has enacted, in an essentialist lanpage of common sense and practical moraiism. This is a sign that this govemment conceives of its offîce as mon than a series of electoral gains; it has something much bigger in rnind. And. if an hegemonic politics describes the political goal and the process of aniving at it, then the end result is the accumulation of a series of victones, in this case, of winning people over to the agenda of the right and to a neo-liberal conception of citizenship. In short, whether or not the Harris govenunent succeeds in its hegemonic project, it may well succeed in shifting politics sharply to the right.

The concept of Auhoritarian Populism (AP) is central to Hall's analysis of Thatcherism's power and to what he means by hegemonic political power. Hail explains AP as foiiows: I hoped by adopting this deliberately contradictory term pncisely' to encapsulate the contradictory features of the emerging conjuncture: a movement towards a dominative and 'authoritarian' form of dernomatic class potitics - paraâoxicaliy, apparently rooted in the 'transformism' (Gramsci's tem) of popuiist discontents (Ibid: 102).

Simply put, the concept of AP describes the contradictory logic yet strategically sound poiitics of a state that propagates anti-statist beliefs in order to populacize the anti-statist state. The term thus applies aptly to the politics of the Harris govemment. The problem with Hall's conception of w, which he aclmowledges, is that it is overdescriptive (Ibid).

To Say that AP is "over-descriptive" is to say that it operates too readiiy at the level of discoutse and overlooks the innuences of the social, political, economic and historical material upon which discourse itself depends. According to Colin Sph,Hall's analysis of Thatcherism, including his theory of AP, simply makes no attempts to explore how changes in class structure, privatization, the differential impact of rising real wages, tax cuts and unemployment, for example, could mntribute to an understanding of how a particuiar hegemonic project might corn to win consent, "Ln a word, the 89 materiai basis of Thatcher's politicai successes is never investigated" (Sparks in Morley and Chen 1996: 95)P

Hidi defends himself against accusations of ideological reductionism and simplification by arguing that his decision to concentrate his scholarly efforts on politics and ideology is strategic. By devoting the weight of his attentions to ideology, he hopes to "bend the stick" in this direction and, as a consequence, lean the left away fkom "the temptation to economism or teleological forms of argument" (Hail 1990: 3). Therefore, Hall argues for a politics of ideology with the goal of eluding the coilusive force he attributes to the language of dominant ideology, a language built of the ends but not the means of econornics. In short, he does not want social reform to be mistaken for socialism (Ibid: 221).

So, the question of how ideology makes change depends entirely on how much social and political power one attributes to structural, systemic and historical consmts and infîuences and, conversely, how much room is left for ideology to operate. Obviously the role of idwlogy is politically cbarged in the content of a hegemonic project. For, in this case, parfcular ideologies becorne dominant when they are linked to fonn a winning common sense in support of a particular fa--reachingresponse to a particular conception of a crisis.

Bob Jusop a al. argue sirniîarly chpl Haü's cmphasis on the ideologicai aspect of AP ncpkcts structural problems thac may wcll k rcsponsibk for the character of a particulsr iddogicai stntggle (Jessopet al 1988: 112). For instance, they maintain that Nicos Poulanrzas' tbeory of authoritarian statism (AS) is superior to Hall's AP bccaust it summons both ideologicai and structurai materials to explain AS. For, whik Poulantzas too writes about the contradictory state goal of legitirnating an anti-statist statc thtough populism, he dso provides a stnrctural explanation for this contradiction. Sptcincaiiy, Poulantuis proposes that the statetsputsual of populist anti-statism has to do with how difficult it is for the moâern state to withdraw economidy and politidy hmpowcr. That is, because all of the state's activitics arc king subotdinated to economic fiinctions, the state is no longer hcto practice anti-statism denconvenicnt and SUremain a state. Therefore, if the state dccresses its interventions in one area, it must incrtase them in 0th- (ibid: 112). Of corirst, Poutaritzasbtbeory of AS prcsumes that state powcr is somehow nptoductivt and thercby attributes a certain quality of beig to the state Le, that of self-prcsecvaiion. Thus, we fïnd ourselves once again at the haut of the dcbatc ovcr the determination of structure and the possibüity of tbe subjcct Wbile HaU may lean too fat towards the abject by not vcrifLUig tbe power of smctud innuences, Jcssop et al, may lcan too fhr towards the determination of stntcaut by accepting the primacy of the cconomic and the determination of complex &al, political and cconomîc systems when there may be a more simple Uiterpntation tbat is not conthcd to experts. 90 One way to simpiify this discussion is to lessen the degree of abstraction. One may ask, for instance, whether the Harris government's reorganization of women's services under the auspices of family seMces and victim's services is an example of ideologicai politics, structurai politics or both? The answer is both. It is a restructuring that is concemed to eliminate, in place and name, the existence of women's se~ces.The power to reorganh women's semices is, of course, a direct application of the government's legislative and administrative powers. However, this does not undermine the ideological impact that is at once at work. For, if the government were interested in saving money ody, it could have redistributed the funding aiiocated to family services into women's se~cesand other community seMces without insisting that family services and victim services become the central point of disai%utioa. So. the restnictwing itself is informeci by a particular ideology of the state and the citizen that is enacted structuraüy, expnssed discursively and confirmai strucWy. The power to change structures is critical to the Harris government's program. Mer ail, it is hard to imagine that the government could eliminate women's seMces without having the power to remove funding or to stnamline the services into farnily and victim services. Thus, without thepwer over resources to enact and confithe discursive message, women's seMces could stiU exist.

Does this mean that if women's services could obtain non-state huiding, that they would not need to bother with the state? The answer is no. The state's democratic clairn to reprisent the public, to manage public hinds for the good of the public and to make laws in the public interest, invests tnmendous power in the meaning of the public. If the need for women's services does not carry the status of a public neeâ, then it is nduced to that of a private one. More importantly, women's services are therefore damed a private responsibility. They become something that relies on a few people's conscience, rather than calling upon a social conscience. The heaith and safety of women, in this case, is not something that we look ahor even look into as a public. It is disco~ectedfiom who we are and is placed in the cognitive category of "stu£f that happens to women" or "stuff that women deal with". No longer considered worthy of social welfan, women's heaith and ssfety is somthing to which somone, hopefbîiy, will tend In short, the largescale acceptame of gender- 91 neutral welf'are is a major step towards the acceptance of a non-public public and of an anti-social, anti-statist state. It marks the acceptance of AP.

Stating a Strategy Contrary to new social movement theory (NSM),the strategic direction proposeci here points straight at the state. Indeed, although NSM theory, iike the cultural studies Haii represents, is critical of both class reductionism and economic reductionism63 for which Marxist theory is notorious, NSM theory is bousto evade traditional academic approaches to what counts as "poiitical".~ In its anxiety, it has too quickly abandonad the state in search of non-institutional aspects of poütics located in the arena of "civil society", a politicai nalm it places outside of Queen's Park, Parliament Hill or a Canadian Autoworkers' Union general meeting for example.

Although NSM theory is valuable for its political imagination, that is, for where its theorists imagine that 1ifec.hangingpolitics CM happen, its major drawback is a tendency to disassociate culturai issues from material ones35 That is, NSM theory studies movements that are considend new in large part because they focus on culturai and symbolic issues iinked to issues of identity and not on economic grievances that have characterized the working-class movement (Johstoa et al. 1994: 7). This narrow focus resuits in a symbolic reductionism that, as indicated eariier, Hall decisively avoids. NSM theorists also argue that movements are less a product of strong, skillfid mobilization efforts and more the beneficiaries of the growing vulnerability and receptivity of eiktheir opponents or the political and economic system in general (McAdam in Iohnston et ai. 1994: 39).

a Clas Rductionism assumes that the identity of a sociai agent is givcn to ber by haclass position. Tbis position is assigncd by one's role in the systcm of capitaI, aamtly, by whcthct one owns the means of production or must nly on one's labour to earn a wage. Economic teductionism assumes ihat politics and ideology rtflcct süictiy the stnictures, relations and idcatitics determinai by time-honound laws of cconomics. 20th NSM and Rcraiace Mobilinoion (RM)thcorics have pointcd out Iht (rsditioaai theorics explained coiiective action in refezence to structural dislocation.economic crisis, and exploitation. Tbc oldcr theocies assumai thai ttEC passage hma condition of exploitation to collective action aùnd at cevcrsing that condition was a simple, direct and wncAiataA pmccssm(Cancl ia Carroll 1992: 23). 65 Sec Warren Magnusson, 27~Semh for Potiîicd Spe(1996). for a classic cumple of NSM theory as the plitics of Idinnovation, 92 Based on the evidence pnsented thus far, the women's movement's opponents are becomiag neither more vulnerable nor more receptive.

Most pertinent to this discussion, is NSM theory's criticisms of state-centred politics. For exampie, Warren Magnusson argues that "[t]o be effective, feminist politics has to define its own terrain, work out its own history, specify the practices appropriate to its object and, resist the efforts of others to force feminism into aüen political spaces" (Magnusson 1996: 46). This advice is, on one level, convincing. However, the central matter of defining one's own tertain becomes rather complicated when the "decentred" state is intent on definng it and is equipped with ali the necessary resources to do so - i.e., ready access to mass communication to deliver its message and the democraticaiiy acquired power to redistribute public resources in a way that affirms its message.

NSM theorists, then, must either ignore or choose to forget that state power is at the centre of the reaüzation of fnt market politics and holds a major stake iqdefining the very avaüability or unavaiiability of the political spaces they hypothesize. Indeed, "... a politics of deregulation, no less than one of regulation, has the character of a massive state intervention" (Offe 1996: 75). Rit differently, deregulation requires regulation of a complex sort; just consider the policy-making and ngulatoiy bodies iavolved in nalizing the North-Amencan Fm Trade Agreement (NAFTA). On a smailer scale, think of the numbcr of social-poiicy changes the Hhsgovernment has had to institute, contend with politicaily and must now regdate in order to "open Ontario for business". The latest crackdown on "WeUlfare cheats", for example. has involved a massive screening of welfan claims. It would be surprishg if the net nsult lwked anything iike a cost-savings in the aame of incruwd efficiency of state economic management.

Deregdation of the marketplace is actudy a re-reguiation of public space - Le., it does not constitute the removal of ngulations so much as a change in theu location and character. The re- reguiations of neo-liber- are designeci to manage the people who intcrfere with the marketpiace and not the reverse. And, because regulating people's social nghts and Momsis not, in the language of democracy, a popuiar politicai platform, the people must be won over to the acceptance 93 of the ngulations of dengulation. Proponents of denguiation policy cleady do not have faith that the performance of the free market alone will convince voting citizens of its value. They do not, in other words, count on the sheer passage of time to reveai that a fncd marketplace is truiy, as it is so obnclairned, the key to economic efficiency and to a universal incnase in welfare. If this were the case, "they would have grounds to assume that the 'failure' of ngulation would, as it were, comct itself by virtue of a universal consciousness brought about by economic eniightenment" (Ibid: 76). Indeed, if this were the case, the Harris govenunent would not need to launch a common sense revolution, restrict the democratic process when the cabinet's agenda faces major opposition, institute tough rrgulatory measures for welfan claimants and recipients or prescribe particular social codes infused with moral vigour, in order to open Ontario for business. In short the Hamis govemment wouid not have to authontatively institute, cultivate and regulate the fieehg of the marketplace if the fiee market were indeed that which, left to its own devices, would ensure the heaitfi and wetfare of ail.

As it is, dengulation policy works to undermine both the values that oppose and obstruct its goal of economic 'Yteedom" and the defenders of those values. Groups that uphold the value of equal economic opportunities, that speak of social justice and of solidarity in the face of political and economic oppression are denounced as "special interests" in dangerous opposition to the collective gd. To the Harris govemmeat, the tens of thousands of people who tumed out to protest this govemment on the day of its fkst throne speech in September 1995, amount to a "special interest". This is not only a feature of the Harris govemment's political performance, it has also beea "a strikiog central feature of the interna1 politics of the Reagan administration in the US and of British Thatcherism" (Ibid).

Why Neo-liberalism is Right About the Welfare State The Harris govemment's current attack on the legitimacy of welfare-state institutions is facilitated and inâeed enabled by the weifare state's very failings. For example, women and children receive most of the welfare state's non-contributory benefits in industriai countnes VeepIe 1995: 46). 94 Therefore, weIfm-state institutions provide disproportionate support to women and children in need. At the same tirne, because the social policies of the weifare state have historicaiiy supported the social institutions of motherhood and the nuclear famüy, it also sets limits on women's participation in the labour force and thus contributes to women's reliance on either the state or the nuclear family unit (Kitchen in Ralph et al. 1997: 106; McCormick 1991:3; Teeple 1995: 46; Threlfd 1996: 301). In this way, the welfm state both protects women from poverty and places them in social desand economic circumstances that warrant and indeed depend on this protection.

The primary function of the welfare state, as the comments above aptly demonstrate, has been "to produce a madicum of social security, certain minimum standards, a de- of class 'hamiony', and socialized costs of production - but not economic equaüty"(Teep1e 1996: 49). Without, then, a commitment to the social project of equality, the weIfare state is destined to conhibute to chronic social dependencies, and to eam a reputation for working to make people into "passive, grecdy, dependent clients much of the the, rather than people claiming rights form the state which is supposed to be their own. representing them against the logic of the maricet" (Hali 1990: 226).

It is becoming evermore apparent that social reforms achieved through the institutions of the welfan state and under the banner of social democracy have acted but to compensate for the inequalities of capitaiism. WeLfare state institutions, th,do not stand in opposition to neo-iiberai practices but prepare fertile ground for neo-liberd ideology to take root. Therefore, regardless of how iconoclastie the Harris govemment's politics may appear to be, intoleraace of the expense and inefficiency of social welfare policies point to some major dysfimctions in the social work of welfare state institutions, dysfiuictions that are apparent to those who interact with the administration of these institutions daily. The point here is that a politics that wishes to contest the anti-social values propagated, for example, by the Harris govetnment's words and acts, cmot begin with the assumption that its tnith will win in some imaginary political "end" or that people will ody tolerate or be able to sustain so much "covering" over of the reaiities of their daily experience and so much abuse of the democratic system in which they take part. Fi~aüy,such a politics cannot assume that it 95 speaks the tmth while its nemesis speaks mythology only. Rather, as Hall instructs, "the first thing to ask about organic ideology is aot whether it is false but what is true about it" (Haii 1990: 189).

What is true about the neo-liberal attack on social welfare is that it does clearly produce social dependencies. For instance, the social safety net benefits women economically by providing an aitemative to women's economic dependence on men (Fraser 1989: 145). At the same the, as discussed above, social welfare institutions are instrumental in the feminization of poverty because they frame the provision of women's needs according to a strict social identity - wown as rnothers within the nuclear fdy. This political control over who gets social resources succeeds in condedg women to fhding economic independence from men through an economicdiy dependent relatioosbip with the state, particularly as single mothers. Thus, welfare provision done in a society othemise managed to reprodua inequalities can hardly hop to do other than produce economic dependencies because it neglects to provide equal economic opportunities. For example,"[b]y failing to offer... women day care for their children, job training, a job that pays a . farnily wage ... [the statel constructs them as exclusively mothers ...m t interprets their needs as matemal needs and their sphere of activity as that of 'the familys" @id: 153).

Thecefore, to defend state-welfare provisions without arguing publicly that these provisions do create dependencies and that it is the complex "why?' of these dependencies that demands scrutiny, is to deny the tnith of the experiences of the very people who are most affectai by the disappearance of reiiable state-welfare provisions and who know its inadequacies first-hand.

As argued in both chapters one and two, the women's movement itseif - its services, its social, political, economic goals - may be lost to neo-liberalism if it does not take seriously the centrality of ideology to neo-liberai politics. Nancy Fraser insists that this is so: "Only in a discourse oriented to the politics of need interpretation can feminists meaningfuliy intemene in the coming welfan wars" (Ibid: 145)F Fraser is careful to explain that she does not consider the ideologicai or discursive

66 Fraser is .of QXMS speairing hmthe wntext of the women's movemcnt in the United Sutcs. Nevertbtkss, the 96 dimension of politics to be epiphenomenal. She States, rather, that the discursive and ideological refer to "the tacit norms and implicit assumptions that are constitutive of those practices" (Ibid: 46). Aiso witing on the contemporary women's movement in the U.S., Johannna Brenner describes political circumstances that closely resemble those of the Ontano women's movement laid out in chapter two. She advocates the need for a cornter-force to the logic of these circumstances. Brenner argues that feminists who choose to concede to state-imposed social, economic and political logic, "gain personal and institutional points of influence". However, she wams that "these very routes of access to political resources impose their own logic on those who try to use them. This logic shapes not oaly what is possible but also what is desirable. Without a counter-force, this logic will corne to dominate refonn efforts" (Bre~erin Threlfall 1996: 54). This exphnation of the conservatizing pressuns of the state echoes the circumstances described in chapter two in which womn's seMces in need of fiinding are being advised to sign up with victim services, famüy services and the board of education. But what might a cowter-force look like?

Drawing Strategic Conclusions This discussion has still but scratchd the surface of the itching question: How does a movement that is fighting to cetain suficient cesources to continue se~chgthe needs of women - neeck that were aever sufficîently served by the provisions of the weifare state - engage in an ideologicai contest over the meanings of our social selves? Or, more generaiiy, how does such a movement begin to shift political discourse away hmanti-social logic and towards a social one, a logic that is "oriented to the politics of need interpretation"? The answer proposed here involves acting on several different hnts at once Le., coutering the Harris goverment's discursive logic through localized public acts, engaging in spontaneous acts of cinl disobedience and claiming a space on the political

women's movement in Ontario is no doubt engagcd in a weIfim war. Not incidentally, the was ht arguai by Nancy Ftaset and Linda Gdonin, "A Geneology of Dependcncy: Tracing a kcywod of tf~U.S. weIfiuc staten (1994). 97 agenda through a women's party. The foliowing discussion shall elaborate on the intentions of this strategic proposal.

The Toronto Direct Action Cornmittee's (TDAC) protest against the Social Services Miaister's advice to those suffering from the 2 1.6% slash to weifare rates (see chapter two, page ) exemplifies a disruption of the Harris government's articulation of the welfan ncipient to social and econornic conditions of existence. TDAC's actions exposed the extra-discursive illogic of cutting the cost of one's grocery bill by bartering with food store owners over the price of visibly damaged goods. In broader terms, TDAC demonstrated that although bartering with gmcery store owners may sound like a hlendly, non-govenunenial solution to poverty, it is, in fact, a way to get amested. Through this action, the social image of the welfan recipient is both dearticuiated and rearticdated to social and economic conditions of existence.

The McGuire Report incident recounted at the end of chapter two, is an example of a single, spoataneous act of civil disobedience that broke through the silence of the Harris government's authoritative reduction of democracy. 1t twk one person to deny the terms of consultation set by the Minister responsible for women's issues, Diane Cunningham, and her staff. By literally taking the McGuire Report into her own hands, this person tumed democratic pretense into democratic substance.

These examples of political protest are smaii but important incidents. It is these kinds of locaiized actions that make politics immediate and relevant. Further, both examples of protest are taagib1y productive. TDAC's action evoked an authoritaiive response to an authoritative suggestion thereby producing a clear view of the contradiction bttween the state's discursive logic and the enforcement of its laws. And, because this action was the carrfully orchestrated work of a political group and not the single act of a welfan recipient challenging Tsubouchi's advice, it escapes the trappings of the dominant ideology which would have been quick to interpret an individuai act of need as exemplacy of the weifare recipient's iaWness, greed and dependency, thereby leaving the contradictory authority of the state uncontested. The McGuk Report incident was a spontaneous act of civil disobedience 98 that, in an instant, expauded the power of women workiag to end violence against women, in the face of the government. This act pushed open the realm of political possibility agauist the very force that was pushing it closed. Not incidentaîly, bis nalm of political possibility is the reaim of democratic rights and social needs.

However, the power and influence of the neo-liberal project to root "the people" in a conmon sense that supports its economic goals, cmot be challenged by a series of isolateci protests alone.67 Chapter one concludes with the argument that ideology is aii that the women's movement has left. This chapter concludes with a qualification to that statement. The women's movement bas ideology and dernocracy. In other words, if a hegemonic pmject is an ideological project enacteà through the winning of "the people's" consent to a particular response to a conception of a crisis, then a counter- hegemonic project must attempt to win "the people's" consent to an alternative articulation of meanhgs to conditions of existence. And, while resistance to a hegemonic project may ut effcctively as localized, non-institutional actions and is no doubt able to carve out pockets of socially progressive Living space, the production of a counter-hegemonic project that aims to contest the terms according to which we coaduct our shared Lves must also act hma place where "the people" cm be addressed and reached, that is, ftom the state.

What is king proposeci hem is the creation of a women's party. The idea is not to invest the women's movement's goals in a political party, or to pretend that a women's party would be able to represent the diversity of women's lives. Radier, the goal would be to create the possibility of a conversation with political representatives, and a high profile public stage for this conversation to happen. For, if the women's movement cannot addnss the state as it cumntly is, it must attempt to create an avenue throi~ghwhich this can happen.

67 Sec MPECUD Munro, "Ontario's Days of Action and Strategic Choim for the btft in Canadan, in S&W ih PolificolEcommy. Summer 1997- 463, for a generai account of the strengths and wcaimesses of the protests against the Ehmk govenunent 99 Once again, and importantly, a wornen's party would not be a substitute for the women's movement. Indeeà, it is the reverse. It would act as a place where members of the women's movement could push to expand the meanings of democracy, equality and freedom in a direction contrary to the economic and gender-neutral direction of neo-liberalism. Therefore, a major aspect of its conception would be the idea that politicai cepreseatatives are not endowed with the power to represent, but must be chaiienged to represent. Thus, a women's party could be conceived in mind of a greater democratic process.

But there is another nason for a women's Party. That is, the very social values out of which and ihrough which the women's movemnt has evolved, are the very social values of which neo- liberalism aims to purge the state. Albert0 Melucci puts it weii when he says that "the symboiic extravagance of femaie output introduces the value of the useless into the system, the inaüenable nght of the paaicular to exist ..." (Melucci 1996: 141). The women's movement was borne of a social logic, a logic of communication that fmds mm, "for the feelings, uncertainties and affective conflicts that always nourish human action" (Ibid). The women's movement has consistently placed people before any kind of abstract goal like economic fieedom that justifies itseV accordhg to some elusive horizon of "common good". It is this very human priority that codd act as a counter-force to the dominant ideology of the Harris govemrnent and other governments WEe it, if it could achieve a prominent place fiom which to speak.

This prominent political place would not act as the centre of the women's movement, but as a vehicle for its state-directed goals, a vehicle that wodd need to be driven by the movement itself and not entrusteci with the movement's broad interests. Furthemore, and once again, localized acts of civil disobedience that counter the discursive logic of noo-liberalism are cntical to any counter- hegemonic strategy that does not wish to fail subject to the political terms of its opponents and which hopes to invest the public with a belief in other possibilities. It is the totality of these strategies, acting on seved dinerent hntsvia several different forms of power, that can create a cornter-politics of ideo10gy. a politics that must continue to be created and recnated After ail, hegemony is daunting in that it pervades aii social relations, but it is also promising in that the stmggle is never won. 101 Appendix 1: Dates and Locations of Interviews

Bain, Beverly . November 4, 1997. At her home in Toronto.

Coilis, Sue. November 25,1997. At her office in Toronto.

Egan, Carolyn. February 2, 1998. At ber office in Toronto.

Friendly, Martha. October 22, 1997. At her office in Toronto.

John, Sungee. Saturday, September 18, 1997. By telephone.

Kasurak, Susan. October 8, 1997. At her home in Toronto.

LaValley, Ethel. February 3, 1998. By telephone.

McMurray ,Susan. September 25, 1997. At her home in Toronto.

Prescod, Elaine. January 15, 1998. By telephone.

Sirois, Ghislaine. November 20, 1997, By telephone. 102 Appendix II: Biographies of Interviewees

Where the name is rnarked with a *, the activikî hm provided her own written biogmphy. Beverly Bain has been an activist for 17 years. Her activism began in anti-racism, the anti- apartheid movement and student politics throughout the 1980's. From there she workeâ in the anti-violence movement, in women's shelters and with survivors of political violence. As the executive director of womn's shelters for NAC in Ontario, she put together a project for survivors of incest and sexual abuse. Presently, she is a consultant for anti-racism, an anti- oppression trainer and a group facilitation trainer. Sue buis works for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and has ben involved in mobilizing smd and large-scde protests against the Harris government as well as carrying out the &y to day activism of OCAP's mandate - essentially, to protect the rights of the poor. Carolyn Egan is a long-tirne feminist activist. Rresently, she directs a Birth Control and VD information Centre in Toronto. She is also the president of a United Steelworkers of Arnerica local in Toronto. Mutha Friendly has a long history of activism in the child care movement. Much of her work in child cm.has been through the National Action Committee on the Stahis of Women (NAC) in Ontario. Presently, she is directhg a child care advocacy project under the auspices of the University of Toronto. Sungee John* has been active with the University of Windsor Students Against Apartheid, The Windsor-Las Vueltas Twin City Roject (SaMide), Wiior-Essex County YMCA, the CAN- AM Indian Friendship Centre, Third World Resource Centre, Iona College at the University of Windsor, Windsor and District Labour Councü, Afncm Comrnunity ûrganization of Windsor, Chinese-Canadian National Council and Windsor Urban AUiance. She has worked as a program associate at Iona College, University of Wmâsor, as a constituency assistant to George Dadamo (MPP, WindsorSandwich) and as an Employment Equity/Ethno-culnual Relations Person for Essex County Board of Eûucation. She has worked on numerous election campaigns since 1988 and has been a member of Chtario's NDP Executive, co-chair of the ûntario NDP Ethao-cultural Liason Cornmittee and a CO-chairof the ûntario NDP Chinese Advisory Committee. She has also been a delegate to the Federal NDP Executive, the chair of Participation of Visible Minorities Committee and a nsourct person for the Federal NDP Aboriginal Cornmittee. Prestntly, she is a Southem Ontano Representative of the National Action Conimittee on the Statu of Women (NAC), pnsident of the board of Windsor Women Working with Immigrant Women and a board member of AIDS Committee of Windsor.

Susan gaPursL is active in both the labour movement and the women's movement. For eight months, she was an iafonnation officer in the violence against women prevention office of the Ontario Womui's Directorate (OWD). Ethel LaVaiiey has been active in trade unions for over 20 years and has held numemus positions in the labour movemnt in Ontario. For example, in 1978, she orgaaized Ontario Public SeMce Employee Union Local 306 in Algonquin Park. In 1993, she becam a dinctor and vice-ptesident of OPSEU. She has also held the position of vice-president of the National Union of Public and Generai Employces and became the ktaboriginal person efected to the Canadian Labour Congress in 1994. She was electcâ Secrctary-Trea~mrof the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL)in November 1995, a position she retains. (Firweed. Late Spring 1997. Issue#57: 13) Susan McMurray* graduated hmYork University in 1987, where she was active with a graduate students organization. Af'ter joinuig the Ontario Wornen's Dinctorate (OWD)in 1988, she beaune active in the Ontario Public SeMce Employees' Union (OPSEU),eventually becoming a steward. Susm is also a member of the Marxist Institute collective, a non-sectarian organization, that organizes conferences. lectures and courses on important contemporary issues; and is treasurer of Pay Equity Advocacy and Legal Se~ces,a fke-standing legal chic that provides pay equity advice to women in Ontario. Presently, Susan is maging a nsearch project tracking the impact of provincial policy changes on Ontarians. Elaine Prescod has a long history of ferninist and anti-racist activism. She is the executive director of The Coalition of Vhible Minori9 Women in Toronto.

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Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Armstrong, Jane. The Toronto Star. October 2, 1997. A2. Mackenzie, Hugh. CdianDhenswn. v.29 (3). lunenuly. 1995. Canadian Press Newswire. September 19, 1995. Landsberg, Michelie. Thc Toronto Star. October 18,1997. L1. Thr Swrday Star. September 28,1997. A2. . The Toronto Star. December 1 1, 1996. A2. .The SdayStar. December 15,1996. A2. Mackie, Richard. The Globe ruid Mail. December 30, 1997. Al/A4. Mittelstaedt, Martin. The Globe and Mail. November 11, 1996. A 1, Scotton, Geohy. The Financial Post. v.86(39). September 26/28. 1992. S20-2 1. Walkom, Thomas. The Toronto Star. March 4,1996. B4. Watkins, Mel. This Magazine. Juiy/August 1996.27-29. TEST TARGET (QA-3)

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