Equal Voice: Federal Election Results 2008

Equal Voice urges PM to boost women in Cabinet as women elected to Parliament crack 21 percent barrier.

Dateline: Friday, October 17, 2008

By Equal Voice

Dear Equal Voice Members and Supporters,

Ottawa, October 14, 2008 — With modest gains in the election, women MPs have finally shattered the 21 percent glass ceiling in the House of Commons, but Canada is still far short of fair representation, says Equal Voice.

At the latest count, there were 68 women elected to the House of Commons, up from 64 in the previous election. Women will now occupy 22 percent of the 308 seats in the House, compared to 21 percent in 2006.

"Congratulations are due to the record number of women who stood as candidates in this election, and to the women who were elected in all parties," said Raylene Lang-Dion. She is National Chair of Equal Voice, the influential non-profit organization that works with all major parties to improve the numbers of women elected to all levels of government in Canada.

However, while the result demonstrates progress, Lang-Dion noted that experts say and experience demonstrates the need for at least one-third women in Parliament to make sure women's perspectives are fully reflected in the nation's agenda. Last night's result means that Canada will still rank far behind other democracies in terms of the number of women elected to its national legislature. Among world democracies, Canada will rank 46th.

"Mr. Harper's new caucus includes some experienced and talented women MPs, whose merits would justify a strong female contingent in his cabinet," Lang-Dion said. Eighteen months ago, on International Women's Day, the leaders of the four major parties in Parliament took up the Equal Voice Canada Challenge — issued by Lang-Deon — promising in statements in the Commons to run more women in this election. They have all lived up to this pledge, with different degrees of success. The Liberals ran the most women (113), but elected just 18 women MPs, while the Conservatives, who won the most seats, ran 60 women candidates, of which 23 were elected. The Bloc Quebecois elected 15 women, and the New Democrats 12. Overall, the showing for women was disappointing considering that more women ran than ever before — they were 29 percent of the total candidates.

Equal Voice researcher Vicky Smallman had warned that many of the women candidates were running in "unwinnable" ridings where their parties did poorly in the past. A breakthrough for women depended on whether the parties running most women made substantial gains, which did not happen last night.

"Despite the result, we are pleased all parties tried harder. We see many signs of growing awareness by Canadians that we need more women in elected office," Lang-Dion said. "We urge Prime Minister Harper to respond by appointing women to half the cabinet positions — and ensuring that women are represented well among the senior ministries."

Equal Voice Founding Chair Rosemary Speirs is already looking to the next election, and urging all parties to lay the groundwork now for future success.

"Our goal is unchanged; we want fair representation of women in Parliament, " said Speirs."That means we need ALL parties nominating at least one third women, as the Liberals and NDP managed to do, and even better will be the day when half or more of the parties' candidates are women. Only then will women be full partners in running our country."

Equal Voice is a group of women and men who are deeply concerned about Canadian politics and have formed a multi-partisan, non-profit organization devoted to the still-bold idea that more women must be elected to every level of government in Canada.

Their mission is to promote the election of more women and ultimately, change the face of Canadian politics.

For further information:
Raylene Lang-Dion, National Chair of Equal Voice
613-355-3428
Vicky Smallman, Equal Voice researcher
613-295-8129
Rosemary Speirs, Equal Voice Founding Chair
416-577-2777

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