Based in Toronto, the Founder's Chapter includes the original members who founded Equal Voice in 2001, joined by many new members since that time. It is chaired by Lesley Byrne.
This dynamic and multi-partisan chapter is active in lobbying the political parties in Ottawa and Queen's Park, in raising awareness of the need for more women in politics, in promoting electoral change initiatives, and in fundraising.
For more information about the Founders chapter contact Lesley Byrne:
Federal Conservatives and Liberals Falling Short in Efforts to Increase Female Nominees
September 30, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ottawa: With over half of their candidates chosen for the next federal election, Canada’s two major political parties are falling short in their commitment to nominate more female candidates than in the past, according to new nominations data released by Equal Voice.
With 60 percent of their candidates in place, the Conservative Party has nominated 39 women, just 21 percent of their candidates to date. The Liberals, with over half of their candidates chosen, have nominated 55 women, or 32 percent of their candidates to date.
In Ontario, progress is not much better. Of 106 ridings in Ontario, the Conservative Party has nominated 16 women – 22 percent of the 73 candidates chosen; the Liberals have nominated 29 women – or 34 percent of the candidates chosen. (In the most recent election of winter 2008, 22 percent of Ontario Conservative candidates and 33 percent of Ontario Liberal candidates were women.)
“In June of this year, all of Canada’s political parties pledged to do better in their efforts to nominate more women for their parties in the next election. To date, the efforts of the two major parties show that they have yet to achieve better than the status quo,” said Vicky Smallman, lead elections researcher for Equal Voice.
In Ontario, only the Green Party, with over 50 percent of their nominations completed, appears to be on track to exceed its previous record, with 21 women nominated, representing 39 percent of its candidates. (In 2008, 27 percent of Green Party Ontario candidates were women.)
With fewer than 40 percent of their candidates chosen, there are too few candidates to suggest a trend for the New Democratic Party in the number of female candidates. (The Bloc Québécois does not run candidates in Ontario.)
“We urge the leading parties to make the nomination of women a priority in the days and weeks ahead,” added Nancy Peckford, Executive Director of Equal Voice. “There is still time.”.
| CP | LP | BQ | NDP | GP | |
| Number of nominations completed to date | 186/308 – 60.4% | 170/308 – 55.2% | 26/75 – 34.7% | 49/308 – 15.9% | 141/308 – 45.8% |
| Proportion of women nominated to date | 39 women (21.0%) | 55 women (32.4%) | 7 women (26.9%) | 17 women (34.7%) | 49 women (34.8%) |
| Previous total percentage of women candidates (2008 fed election) |
60/307 = 20% | 113/307 = 37% | 21/75 = 28% | 104/307 = 34% | 89/304 = 29% |
“Canadians want more women on the ballot”, underscored Peckford. Polling data released by Equal Voice this past June show that 85 percent of Canadians support efforts to increase the number of women elected in this country.
In the 2008 federal election, 29 percent of candidates from the five major parties were women, a historic high for Canada. After the 2008 election, 22 percent of MPs elected were female, the highest percentage of women MPs that Canada had ever elected at the federal level. Despite this, Canada has yet to attain critical mass, a key United Nations benchmark of 30 percent representation by women.
Currently, Canada ranks 48th in the world for female representation in a national legislature, well behind counties such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Argentina, Spain, and many others.
Equal Voice has tracked the nominations process in three previous elections - 2004, 2006, 2008, and in anticipation of an upcoming election, to draw attention to the low representation of women in Canada’s Parliament.
For more information or to book an interview with Janet Wiegand of Equal Voice BC:
For more information:
Nancy Peckford, Executive Director, Equal Voice
Lesley Byrne, Chair Founders Chapter, Equal Voice
Sherri Moore-Arbour, Chair National Capital Region, Equal Voice
To read the text of commitments made by federal party leaders
to Equal Voice in June 2009 visit: Canada Challenge 2009
EVE Award (Toronto) Honours Kim Campbell
Our annual EV award lunch in partnership with the Canadian Club was a resounding success. Over 450 people came to hear former Prime Minister Kim Campbell, this year's award recipient. She spoke passionately about the need for more women in politics and argued for electoral reform namely, two-person ridings, one of each gender.
EV’s Experiences Program at Queen’s Park
We also helped to organize an Experiences day at Queen's Park where young women from five Hamilton and Scarborough high schools spent the day at the Legislature. Our portion of the event was hosted by the Lieutenant Governor. Deb Matthews, Minister Responsible for Women's Issues, Lisa MacLeod, PC MPP, and Sheila White, five-time NDP candidate were speakers. Five cabinet ministers dropped in to chat informally with the girls as well as Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Ontario NDP.
Sylvia Bashevkin Releases New Book: Women, Power, Politics
Chapter member, Sylvia Bashevkin published a book: Women, Power, Politics: The Hidden Story of Canada's Unfinished Democracy. She succinctly summarizes the problem and posits an elegant solution to getting more women into office. Equal Voice is mentioned several times.The book is available at Indigo: Click here
The Next Ontario Challenge
Meanwhile, we're moving ahead on the Ontario Challenge to convince all three party leaders to nominate a record number of women in 2011 and we've already started discussions and planning for next year's EV award.
Equal Voice Hosts Successful
Celebration of Women at Queen's Park
April 2008
Equal Voice hosted a celebration of women in politics at Queen's Park on Tuesday, April 8. The celebration focused on the past, present and future women of Queen's Park and many current and former female members of provincial parliament attended. Several members of Equal Voice Youth were there to represent the future face of women in Canadian politics.
The event was graciously sponsored by the TD Financial Group, a demonstration of the company's commitment to electing more women. Taking place in the historic legislative dining room, 150 people showed their continued support for women in politics. The three party leaders were also present and addressed the crowd after being warmly welcomed by Donna Dasko, chair of the Equal Voice's Founding Chapter.
Premier Dalton McGuinty spoke first. In his remarks he discussed the progress the Ontario Liberal Party has made with respect to ensuring that more women are running in and winning elections. This, he noted, was the result of a personal commitment he made to Rosemary Speirs, Equal Voice's Founding Chair, after she issued the Ontario Challenge - a challenge asking all three provincial leaders to jointly commit to the goal of nominating more women candidates. The Premier's commitment involved guaranteeing that at least half of the Liberals' unheld seats would go to female candidates; a commitment that he bettered during the election as more than half went to women.
Premier McGuinty also discussed how important it is to not only have women in the legislature, but also in leadership positions in the cabinet. Those cabinet roles must not be limited to the portfolios traditionally associated with femininity, such as childcare, he said, adding that he was particularly proud that his minister of economic development and trade is the Hon. Sandra Pupatello. To end his remarks, the Premier thanked the many women in his party, both sitting with him in the legislature and those who work behind the scenes, for their energy and efforts.
Following Premier McGuinty, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory and NDP Leader Howard Hampton took the podium where they talked about the efforts their parties have undertaken to improve the presence and roles that women play.
Mr. Tory acknowledged his party fell short of the target his party set for the Ontario Challenge. However he noted that the motivation of this challenge allowed them to reach record numbers of female candidates in the last election. Mr. Hampton recited some of the personal struggles he and his wife, Shelley Martel, the former MPP for Nickel Belt, have encountered as they attempted to balance political careers and a family. Mr. Hampton also discussed the important, transformative role women have played in his life- all the way back to his university years, when his all-male college began to admit female students.
All three party leaders attested to the fact that having women in the legislature has an entirely positive influence on how the government operates and consequently improves Canadian society. As such, they all look forward to future events and challenges from Equal Voice.
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