Ferreri Must Be Removed from the Status of Women Committee
Peterborough Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri's abuse of female colleagues, witnesses & the Parliamentary Committee system has broken the 20-year Status of Women Committee
It didn’t take long. Ten months or so. And well documented, thanks to recorded meetings available to the public. “In it for the clips” Peterborough MP Michelle Ferreri, my MP, has shown us that even this most collegial and functional Status of Women Committee has fallen victim to her tactics of disruption, obstruction, hate, anger and her 2024 New Year’s resolution to get Pierre Poilievre elected at any cost. In this ongoing instance, that cost is on the backs of women.
Her presence on this Committee is detrimental to Canadian women. She’s shown no interest or capability in proposing solutions to the grave and complex issues we face. As the Shadowy Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, she actively works to sabotage female- and family-benefiting programs and services, voting against all funding at budget time. She sandbags and denigrates Witnesses for her own goal of furthering herself within the Conservative Party. She must be removed from this Committee. She is no ally.
There’s a particular vengeance style that MP Michelle Ferreri is known for. Ever the bully, since Middle School, Constituents will tell you, bullies never forget when they’ve been bested. And the start of her political vengeance that has crippled the Status of Women Committee was against none other than her most recent target, MP Anita Vandenbeld. In October 2023, Ferreri was once again trying to obstruct the Committee meeting by introducing a Motion not related to the Agenda. MP Vandenbeld called her out on it, which you can watch here, infuriating MP Ferreri. Ferreri’s response in this particular instance was her ultimate lie and betrayal of Committee members when she said “I’m not here for the clips!”, and promptly posted a manipulated video clip, proving time and again that that’s all she’s actually there for. MP Ferreri has never forgotten this humiliation and is now trying to destroy MP Vandenbeld’s career.
Throughout the last 10 months, there are countless examples of MP Ferreri obstructing this Committee, some of which are documented by myself as a Twitter series I call “What Really Happened™”. What is common in each of these Episodes is that within minutes of the Status of Women Committee meeting ending, and sometimes while it was still ongoing, MP Ferreri posts her version of what went on, out of context and with video clips that demean or embarrass the women participating if it doesn’t feed into Poilievre’s Prime Ministerial campaign. If you actually watch the meetings, where she’s almost always on her phone, 100% of the time her video clips do not represent the actual meeting’s substance, nor the exchanges that occur while Committee members discuss and gather information. She’s a liar.
Her vengeance is not limited to her fellow MPs who sit on this Committee. She shows the same dripping disdain towards Ministers, Executive Directors, guest MPs, international guests, CEOs and Witnesses expert in their field, particularly if they are deemed to be a progressive voice or voter. Some of the stunned, silenced looks on Witness’ faces who have been the recipient of her wrath are really not to be believed. A particularly painful example of her brute treatment of female witnesses was documented in a Twitter thread by another Constituent, @TanyaRanne. You can view that here.
The Status of Women Committee has a 20 year history of MPs working together, across Party lines, to produce ground-breaking work on topics related to issues women face. MP Ferreri’s presence on this Committee has brought that work to a halt, she has broken and betrayed the trust amongst its members. Her most recent manipulation of this Committee, with the help of the Chair, set up for failure their 2 last-minute Conservative-supporting Witnesses, after subverting the democratic process by denying the opportunity to other Committee members to call their own Witnesses. The Chair and Michelle Ferreri then repeatedly refused to allow Leah Gazan to speak. And regardless of what MP Ferreri tells you, her 2 Witnesses - one was flown in last-minute from Los Angeles along with her parents - were actually heard loud and clear and given their due 15 minutes. On cue, they dramatically walked out in protest when MP Vandeneld tried to wrest control of the meeting to follow procedure with an open Motion still on the table that Conservatives have refused to address - that of abortion legislation.
MP Ferreri continues to shift our focus of blame to MP Vandenbeld. Pundits write about everyone else’s responsibility towards this fiasco, but no one is writing about the MP who is ALWAYS at the center of all of this Committee’s dysfunction - my Peterborough MP Michelle Ferreri.
She must be removed from the Status of Women Committee to restore its trust and functionality.
Update: August 30, 2024, two weeks later. After her atrocious claim that “parents are trafficking their kids because of Justin Trudeau’s cost of living crisis”, which she was forced to retract and delete due to public and press pressure, a petition has been started (the first in Parliamentary history?) to force the resignation of Michelle Ferreri from the Status of Women Committee. There are close to 3,000 signatories so far, with hundreds of very accurate comments. Please consider supporting this initiative by visiting: