Green Party leads the pack with women candidates
Thanks to Green Party deputy leader Adriane Carr for passing along this excellent Carol Goar column in the Toronto Star from Monday. In discussing the dire need for equal representation of women in the House of Commons, Goar points out that on top of having the only woman leader, the Green Party is leading the way in terms of nominating female candidates, with women currently comprising 35 percent of nominated candidates.
I’m proud of this figure, and the work our grassroots has put into recruiting more woman candidates. Of course, the goal must still be 50 percent women, and we will continue to work toward this ultimate objective. Wtih respect to the Green Party’s Women’s Council, formed at the bi-annual general meeting last February in Pictou, much work is being done behind the scenes to ensure the council becomes a strong voice for increasing women representation both internally in the party, and externally in our elected bodies. I look forward to the exciting initiatives the Women’s Council plans to undertake.
Returning to Goar’s piece, I am especially fond of the analogy used by whoever wrote her headline – Parliament as a frat house. Increasing the number of female MPs will go a long way toward changing the toxic, hyper-partisan climate, in my opinion. But we must not overlook one point that was not mentioned in Goar’s article — the critical importance of bringing in proportional representation as a way of reaching the goal of equal representation of women. The literature is very straight forward — countries and jurisdictions that use fair voting systems that prioritize proportionality have better representation of women (not to mention minorities and other less-represented segments of the population). Let’s not forget about the urgent need for proportional representation as we debate how to elect more women.
This is very good indeed. While I have been critical of the Green Party on other matters, I want to congratulate you on making the nomination of women candidates a high priority. This bodes well for Canadians. There shouldn’t be even 1 of the 308 Federal Ridings that doesn’t have at least one woman contesting the seat from at least one of the parties.
Women compromise half of the human race … half of our nation. The day that we have at least one half of the House of Commons comprised of women MP’s will be a good day for the nation.
Congratulations on your results to date.
The Toronto Star article is factually incorrect, and the premise for this post is false. At this point in time both the Liberal Party, and the Dippers have a higher proportion of female nominees than the GPC does.
http://www.punditsguide.ca/punditqueries_e.php
Thanks, leftdog, that is very kind of. In the spirit of non-partisanship, I congratulate the NDP for their strong record on running women candidates as well, and the smart policy of ensuring at least one woman is running in any nomination contest. Many Liberals are committed to this issue as well. I’m impressed by the effort that so many women and men have put into the goal of equality. Not to say there isn’t a tremendous amount of work left to do, but many good people are trying hard.
Matthew, Pundit’s Guide doesn’t have the most up-to-date information available, simply because it is very difficult to keep track of candidate nominations – there is always an element of delay involved while candidates file paperwork, register with Elections Canada, have their information posted on the Elections Canada website, and the Green Party’s own website. The article is accurate. Of course, nominations change daily, so it’s possible these numbers are already different. But the point is, the GPC is doing a good job.
Actually, if you check Alice’s post, (Alice being ‘the guide’) you will discover that her information is brand new, and is supplied by; (drumroll) the Green Party administration two days ago.
Carol Goar’s column was written four days ago. As I pointed out, the numbers change almost daily. The point is the same.
Yes, they do change daily, even from the Green Party. I’m doing the best I can as a volunteer, and with the information I’m given and can scrounge up on my own in my spare time.
I think it is safe to say that there are 3 parties running around 30-32% right now, and 2 parties running around 18% right now.
Thanks to the commenter for the citation.
Oh dear, finger slip there: should have read 30-35%.
We don’t need more Ruby Dhallas, Lisa Raitts, Diane Finleys… they do not make political debate less toxic. We do need people with different experiences other than conformist middle-class and high-income/corporate values that dominate parliament. It is positive that we are moving closer toward 50% representation for women, but this significant increase in recent years and decades has not improved politics at all – things have been getting exponentially worse despite a significant increase of women in parliament (health, education, rising tuition, environmental and climate crisis, toxic food and toy imports).
Pundits’ Guide, hope you didn’t take my comment to mean that your site is anything less than awesome! Thanks for the note.