OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been accused of systematically undermining women in this country by stripping their advocacy groups of tens of millions of dollars and targeting those critical of his government’s anti-abortion stance on the world stage.

In the past two weeks, the federal government has ended funding to 14 women’s groups, including a non-governmental agency that was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for more than 30 years.

But women are pushing back before next month’s global G20 summit in Toronto where Harper had hoped to make funding of maternal health a cornerstone of the meeting.

Canadian women won’t be ordered to keep quiet no matter how much Harper threatens to get even with any group that criticizes his Conservative government, critics and women groups promised Tuesday.

Opposition critics and a representative from the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women’s Equality and Human Rights accused the Conservative government of turning back the hands of time on women’s issues.

Exhibit A, they say, is its refusal to fund abortion in foreign aid even though abortion in Canada is legal.

“Women’s groups are saying we are not going to be intimidated anymore, and this is the group that is being told to go to the back of the bus and shut up,” NDP critic MP Irene Mathyssen said.

Said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May: “It’s like moving back to the (Richard) Nixon era in a whole bunch of areas … it’s chilling to see Canada going backwards”

Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth’s well-intentioned warning to some 80 aid representatives on Monday that they should “shut the f--- up” about abortion for fear of retribution from Harper has become a rallying cry for organizations that have seen their funding eliminated or cut drastically.

The warning dominated a good chunk of Tuesday’s House of Commons question period.

“This is a culture of intimidation that has now been established by the Conservative Party: If someone has a disagreement with the government, just shut the F up,” Liberal MP Bob Rae told MPs.

“Canadians need to wake (up) to the fact that this is a government that has a problem with democracy … the pattern is clear and it is becoming more and more disturbing,” Rae told reporters later.

The Conservatives distanced themselves from Ruth’s comments.

“Let me say again the language is unacceptable and in no way, shape or form represents the views of the government,” Transport Minister John Baird, speaking for Harper, told the House.

Judy White, president of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW), told the Star that cutting off funding for women’s organizations “is an interesting way of silencing them. I think it is very short-sighted on the part of government.”

The Ad Hoc Coalition for Women’s Equality and Human Rights says the government war on women’s groups “is actually an attack on democracy in Canada.

“By defunding those women’s groups you are effectively silencing discussion . . . on women and women’s advocacy,” said Claire Tremblay, coordinator of the coalition, which represents about 30 organizations. .

Since 2006, Harper has cut funding for women’s advocacy by 43 per cent, shut 12 out of 16 Status of Women offices in Canada and eliminated funding of legal voices for women and minority groups, including the National Association of Women and the Law and the Courts Challenges Program,critics say.

A spokesman for Rona Ambrose, the minister responsible for the status of women, said funding for the women’s programs is at “its highest levels ever,” with the government footing the bill for 75 projects that will help more than 24,000 women.

“Unfortunately, not all projects that submitted proposals were able to receive funding,” Chris Hilton said in an email to the Canadian Press.

“The funding for advocacy for women rights has disappeared,” May told the Star.

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The Green Party leader said the government will gladly provide funding to women’s shelters, for example, but resists when it comes to funding organizations that might look at the underlying social problems.

“They will fund Band-Aids after the fact but they will not fund root causes, identification or elimination of root causes. That’s not their agenda,” May said.

She said the women’s advocacy non-governmental group, MATCH International, which received funding for 34 years, just had its $400,000 funding pulled with only two days notice.

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