Thank you. I will be very brief on this.
I'm coming at this from a totally different part of the bill and from a totally different perspective as I was asked to do. Just to let you know, the centre works on advancing women's leadership in all sectors through research programs for advancing women, looking at barriers and opportunities, and creating awareness and partnerships. We are not an advocacy group. We will not put forward positions but look at what the possibilities are in different circumstances given what's being presented.
We have done a number of pieces of research, including recently “A Force to Reckon With: Women, Entrepreneurship and Risk“, looking at how women entrepreneurs look at risk, which is very important for the advancement of women in entrepreneurship, and I would also say, in terms of advancing women on boards, because these are a feeder group for potential participation on boards. We will now be looking at how women entrepreneurs look at innovation, because this is key to the Canadian economy.
One of the things we also did in 2012 was a benchmark study of women's leadership in Canada, and this looked at where women were across the various sectors in terms of senior leadership. When we looked at it, it came out that there was 29% of women, but only when you added in the public sector. When you looked at the private sector, it was 26%, and when you looked across the public sector, it varied from very low percentages in mining, resources, and construction to much higher in the financial sectors and the service industries. That continues to be the case as we look at what's happening in terms of board participation.
I've also been part of the Canadian Board Diversity Council, assisting with its founding through a grant from Status of Women, and I've also been part of their advisory board. One of the things the Canadian Board Diversity Council has been doing is mapping the changes in board representation. We know that we have a comply or explain regime in Ontario, and in a number of other provinces now, 10 other provinces, I believe they're now looking at whether that's been successful.
Just as an example, in 2015, looking at the Financial Post 500, there was 19.5% female representation on boards, and in 2016, 21.6%. Progress is slow at this rate. It will take quite a long time to reach that goal of 30% to 50%, which is what most people would say is appropriate representation.
When I was asked to come here, I took a look at Bill C-25, and this kind of legislation is designed to be a nudge to nudge corporate boards forward, as I'm reading it, without the imposition of quotas. I know that this committee has looked at various options, including quotas. There will be some who say quotas don't work. I think that we have evidence that quotas do work in some countries, depending on the length of time those quotas are given. If you have only a short period of time and corporate boards don't turn over very quickly, then it's not likely to be successful.
Whenever there's talk about there not being adequate feeder groups, we know that is not the case. There are more than enough very highly qualified women to serve on the boards that have positions in Canada. That is something that has been looked at through the Canadian Board Diversity Council, through Catalyst, and through other organizations that have ongoing lists of already pre-qualified women who have gone through.
When I looked at the bill, I looked at how it was put forward. It was put forward as a bill with, as one of its objectives, increasing gender participation on corporate boards that are under the Canadian Corporations Act. But when I looked at the actual legislation, there is no mention of the word “gender” in it. The word is “diversity”, and diversity is not defined as it stands in the current legislation; it's left to regulations.
I tell corporations and others all the time that lumping diversity and gender together without articulating the need to have the larger participation of women on boards does not always work, because we know that women are not a diversity group; they are 50% of the population. As for diversity, yes, bringing women on boards will bring diversity, but if it's left only under the rubric of diversity, you may not get the numbers you're attempting to get.
One of the things the Canadian Board Diversity Council has advocated is aspirational targets. I'm not sure if there have been discussions at this table, but I think aspirational targets are very useful.
I'm not sure the legislation, as I read it, really requires an explanation. Did you actually look at diversity candidates? Did you actually look at women when you were choosing your board members? If you didn't, why didn't you?
Just to put it on the table, I am a lawyer. I practised law with the federal government for many years, and taught it, so I come at the bill from a lawyer's perspective as well. There are some things in the existing legislation that I see as challenges that may not achieve the goals of the legislation, which I think are very positive goals that we need to be moving forward with.
I'll leave it at that. I know you have lots of questions, and we can have a good discussion as a result.