Liberal and NDP MPs regret departure of Conservative MP as Status of Women chair

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OTTAWA – Liberal and NDP MPs are mourning the loss of the former Conservative chair of the parliamentary committee on the status of women and say they hope the change doesn’t hurt their ability to work together across party lines.

Committee members said they were disappointed to learn that Karen Vecchio, praised as a collaborator, would no longer be at the helm.

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Vecchio was first elected president in 2017 and has served in the role for years.

Her term as committee chair ended on Wednesday and conservatives on the committee voted the next day to replace her with Conservative MP Shelby Kramp-Neuman.

Liberal MPs abstained from the vote, but Liberal Rep. Pam Damoff said she was surprised by Vecchio’s abrupt departure, calling her a “strong, competent” and “smart progressive conservative woman.”

“It’s a real blow,” Damoff said in a recent interview. “I think the Conservative leadership has a lot to answer for. “She put her heart and her soul into this committee.”

Over the last two governments, parliamentary committees have taken on an increasingly partisan tone.

Vecchio has not publicly addressed the move.

The changes to committee assignments are not irregular, Conservative spokesman Sebastian Skamski said in a statement.

He described Kramp-Neuman as a “proud, common-sense Conservative woman” and said she will champion “the issues facing Canadian women who have suffered after nine years of Justin Trudeau’s costly Liberal-NDP coalition.”

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However, he did not address Vecchio’s absence from Poilievre’s list of critics. She had previously been appointed as the party’s critic in Parliament on issues relating to women, gender equality and youth.

During Thursday’s meeting, Kramp-Neuman thanked her predecessor for her “commitment, her compassion and her dedication and advocacy” for women’s issues. The sentiment was met with applause.

Over the years, the Committee on the Status of Women has studied murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, sports safety, intimate partner violence and access to menstrual products.

Damoff says Vecchio has built strong relationships with women’s groups, women’s shelters, and gender-based violence survivors—the kind of relationships that are built on trust and aren’t easily achieved overnight.

“It’s a big loss for women in Canada,” she said of Vecchio’s departure.

Lisa Hepfner, another Liberal MP, said she was “devastated” by the change and “feels like (Vecchio) has been thrown under the bus.”

“She has worked very hard for many years, she has worked with all her heart and we have been able to achieve great things on this committee. I really hope we can continue to collaborate,” Hepfner said.

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Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri, who also sits on the committee, rejected Hepfner’s accusation.

Leah Gazan, an NDP MP on the committee, told the new president Thursday that “the solidarity around this table is pretty fierce.”

On Friday, Gazan said she was “deeply concerned” about what the change could mean, noting how, for example, the conservative caucus is divided on the issue of abortion.

Poilievre has said he has no intention of reopening the abortion debate. In a French interview broadcast last year, his wife, Anaida Poilievre, said the couple was “pro-choice.”

A dispute over abortion rights is what landed Vecchio the chair’s job in 2017, when Liberal MPs on the committee rejected former leader Andrew Scheer’s pick, Alberta MP Rachael Thomas, because of her record on the issue.

Vecchio was among a handful of MPs who backed former Quebec premier Jean Charest in the 2022 Conservative leadership race, which Poilievre won in a huge first-ballot victory with the majority of the caucus behind him.

Damoff normally no longer serves on the committee, but was present Thursday when a motion was introduced to thank Vecchio for his work.

Liberal MP Sonia Sidhu praised Vecchio’s sense of collaboration, which she attributed to the committee’s ability to produce “a record number of reports.”

The southern Ontario MP is “a huge advocate for women and girls,” Sidhu said at the meeting.

With files from Mia Rabson.

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