Equal Voice tracks federal election

September 15, 2008

On the Hill: MPs, senators and a party leader. | photo: Equal Voice

Equal Voice is “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.” Its mission is to “promote the election of more women and ultimately, change the face of Canadian politics.”

With this in mind, Equal Voice created the Canada Challenge for the current federal election. In March, 2007 – on International Women’s Day – the organization challenged the four leaders in Parliament “to use their authority to ensure that each political party runs more women in the next federal election.”

Conservative leader Stephen Harper, Liberal leader Stephane Dion, NDP leader Jack Layton, and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe responded to the Canada Challenge by making statements in the House of Commons committing to electing more women on April 17, 2007.

Now, here we are.

We are happy to see that all parties have shown improvements in the numbers of women nominated in 2008. However, we are disappointed that the numbers of women still lag behind what is needed to attain gender equity in our nation’s House of Commons.

— Raylene Lang-Dion, Equal Voice national chair

This election, Equal Voice is tracking the numbers of women nominated by each political party. It is the only organization providing this election resource. According to Equal Voice, the research is based on Elections Canada data, media reports and information from party sources.

Here are the national numbers as of September 10, 2008:

Conservative

candidates nominated so far: 300 of 308 ridings across Canada (national total)
number of women nominated: 57 / 19%
** winnable ridings with women nominated: 15%
2006 election / women nominated: 12%
2006 election / women MPs elected: 11%

Liberal

candidates nominated so far: * 278 / 308 (90%)
number of women nominated: 101 / 36%
** winnable ridings with women nominated: 26%
2006 election / women nominated: 25%
2006 election / women MPs elected: 21%

NDP

candidates nominated so far: 194 / 308 (62%)
number of women nominated: 77 / 40%
** winnable ridings with women nominated: 37%
2006 election / women nominated: 35%
2006 election / women MPs elected: 41%

Bloc

candidates nominated so far: 59 / 75 federal seats in Quebec (78%)
number of women nominated: 19 / 32%
** winnable ridings with women nominated: 30%
2006 election / women nominated: 30%
2006 election / women MPs elected: 33%

Greens

candidates nominated so far: * 117 / 308 (37%)
number of women nominated: 34 / 30%
** winnable ridings with women nominated: 0%
2006 election / women nominated: 23%
2006 election / women MPs elected: 0%

* Liberals are declining to run a Candidate in Central Nova, where Green Party leader Elizabeth May is running. The Greens will not be running a candidate in Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion’s riding, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville

** Winnable ridings are defined as ridings where the seat is currently held, where parties came in second by a margin of 10% or less in the 2006 election, or where there was a three-way contest in the 2006 election with a margin of less than 15% between the first and third place parties

source

Equal Voice website
Equal Voice Federal Election Tracking (PDF download, Adobe Acrobat, 16.8 KB), Equal Voice | September 10, 2008