Tuesday, August 07, 2007

On the 1/3s quota, in Ontario at least

The Ontario wing of the Liberal Party has posted a list of nominated candidates, as of July 16th, on its Web site (opens a pdf file). This gives us a chance to see how the party is doing in meeting Dion’s target of 1/3 female candidates.

By my count, with 80 ridings having had nominations, 54 men have been nominated and 26 women. That’s translates as about 32.5 per cent women candidates in Ontario. Which I guess could be rounded-up to the 33 per cent, but there are still 26 ridings to go so no need for rounding yet.

I should note that Ontario has the most incumbents so it’s the most difficult to bring in more female candidates, so the fact it is just barely under the goal with 26 ridings to go is very positive. I also hear soon to be vacated, winnable ridings like Scarborough Southwest (Tom Whappel) will likely be reserved for a female candidate.

Also worth noting is that, so far, this has been accomplished with only one appointment, Martha-Hall Findlay in Willowdale.

While Ontario is looking good though the 1/3s promise was a national one, not a regional one, and last I heard nominations were running above the 1/3s level.

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3 comments:

S.K. said...

Doubtful, Ontario is doing the best of any region. In the East, there are 13 of 14 nominations for men. Ontario would have to be well above 35% more like 40% to counter these trends elsewhere. I also don't think the west is anywhere near the 33% range. Quebec may come close, but not in many winnable ridings, if any, sad to say. Where as the BLOC elect a whopping 78% of their female candidates, the Liberals will be lucky to attain the current 25% female caucus proportion, as they just aren't being nominated in winnnable ridings. And I bet the rest of Ontario's ridings come in under the mark. Dion sould have appointed more women.

Jason Cherniak said...

Yes. That would be because almost all of Altantic Canada is already full of Liberal incumbents!

If Scarborough goes female, that is three women replacing men in Liberal seats from the last election.

I think we will see Ontario around 40%. We are going to reach the target.

Dan McKenzie said...

Avoiding SB's cynicism... Judy Foote knocked off two men for a Newfoundland nomination in a seat we're going to win next election.