OECD Program For International Student Assessment PISA: Niki Ashton

Nicole Turmel Dept: So did the NDP, which chose Nicole Turmel as interim leader after Jack Layton s death. Two NDP women are making a good showing in the leadership race, Peggy Nash and Niki Ashton, according to Globe and Mail. Then there was the excellent showing of Canadian students in the OECD Program for International Student Assessment PISA on proficiency in reading, math and science. A few critics bemoaned that Canada was beaten by South Korea and Japan and students from one Chinese city, Shanghai . But Canadian students were beaten by only one Western country, Finland and more women are prominent in federal politics, too. Again, many of them are Conservatives. None have broken into the tight ministerial circle around Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but women are in the second tier, as it were. Further, the Conservatives elected some very impressive new female MPs. Anyone who witnessed Margaret Thatcher up close, or followed from afar the careers of Indira Gandhi and Golda Meir, or who watched Hillary Clinton s nomination campaign, must know that women in politics can be as rough and tough as men, even tougher. But women often have a nose for issues that men miss, or they see the same things through a different prism, and that difference is useful and important. Political life is better with more women running or helping to run the show. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.