Evidence of meeting #106 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was data.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Are you actually following the individuals who took part in this? Do you have a plan for the long term?
Senior Director General, Women’s Program and Regional Operations, Office of the Co-ordinator, Status of Women
No, that's not part of the longitudinal study for—
Senior Director General, Women’s Program and Regional Operations, Office of the Co-ordinator, Status of Women
There isn't a reason we couldn't be doing that. It was not part of that particular project.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Someone from PCO discussed the potential for setting quotas for candidates but in the next breath talked about the very real problem of placing women in ridings they can't win. If we were going to entertain a discussion about measures that would actually encourage parties to have parity in terms of their candidate slate, what protections could we put in place to ensure there isn't a practice of just putting in placeholder candidates, where they know they're never going to win, to satisfy an artificial requirement?
Analyst, Democratic Institutions, Privy Council Office
One of the most effective mechanisms that has been seen in a country like Canada.... I believe the Special Committee on Electoral Reform discussed this in their final report, the fact that nomination contests are seen as one of the biggest barriers to women's participation in Canada. There are several political parties that have put in place, on a voluntary basis, rules about when and how nomination contests are held. I think that could be something the committee might wish to look at in terms of....
Director General, Policy and External Relations, Office of the Co-ordinator, Status of Women Canada
Political training, mentorship, leadership programs—the kind we do at Status of Women but perhaps more targeted ones—and enhancing research, those things will also help. It's not just about quotas necessarily.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Thank you very much.
I just want to let you know that my Daughter of the Vote is doing tons of things now in our community. I think she really was helped by that. Great work.
Our next meeting is going to be Thursday, June 7. We'll have Shal Marriott, Kayleigh Erickson, Nancy Peckford, and Michaela Glasgo.
Dissenting and supplementary reports for the women's economic report are due by 12:00 p.m. on Friday and midnight for indigenous women.
The meeting is adjourned.