Status of Women Committee on June 7th, 2018

[Michaela Glasgo]

This is one of my favourite questions.

I think that, oftentimes when we're talking about the feminist movement, there is a certain type of woman who is personified in that movement, and I think that social justice and these buzzwords are thrown along with that.

In the Conservative movement, there's a very distinct initiative not to put people into a lock and step identity category, whereas when it comes to feminism, it's all about a lock and step identity category. It's all about what hardships or what kind of interlocking inequality you can put together to create this more amorphous category of gender. For me it's less about that and more about competency.

I think that, when Conservatives are excluded from that conversation, it's hard to really call it an equal conversation, because there's a whole subset of the population that's not being addressed and not being asked for their opinion or their input at all.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you very much.

Why do you think it is so important to also have Conservative women involved in politics and running for office?

[Michaela Glasgo]

I think it's very simple. There are Conservative people in the country, and they deserve representation.

For me in Alberta, there's been a direct incentive by the party leader of the UCP, Jason Kenney, to have more women running, but that was by no means a propping up. I think that was just his initiative to say that women should run and that we need more women and ask why not have more women.

Women are flooding the nomination races, and that's wonderful. We've achieved parity. We've achieved these wonderful things that everybody's aspiring to, without imposing a quota, without even having to do something systematic or to change something systemically. It's come from the grassroots level, which I think makes it much more valid.

To the point of the question, it's simply because these people exist and they need to be represented.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you.

You may not know, but I'm Jason's successor in Calgary Midnapore, and I always joke I should get a T-shirt made: “I'm sorry. I'm not Jason Kenney”.

Would you say it's more difficult for women in Conservative politics to get involved, relative to other sides of the spectrum?

[Michaela Glasgo]

Absolutely not. When you're looking at getting involved, as I said, if you want a seat at the table, pull up a chair. For me personally, some of my biggest supporters have been men. Rachel's here today and she's one of my biggest mentors, but at the end of the day, I also have Jason Kenney who has been a huge mentor and inspiration to me. John Barlow has been a huge inspiration and mentor to me, and Drew Barnes. These people in various sectors of government have been absolutely influential in informing who I am and my politics and motivating me to go forward.

I think that as long as there's a desire to be involved, you will find a place. I don't know of any campaign that ever turns down volunteers, or door knockers, for that matter. I know I definitely wouldn't. I think as long as you have a desire, somebody will get you involved and the first step is just honing in on that.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you, Michaela.

Nancy, it's always a joy to see you. Of course, I'm the proud former chair of the Alberta South chapter of Equal Voice, so the organization has a very dear place in my heart. You know that a major reason I took on that role—actually thanks to Lynne Hamilton, who's also in the audience here today—was that I felt it was so important for Conservative women to hold a space in politics.

With that, why is it important that Equal Voice is multipartisan? Why is that so important for your organization, please?

[Nancy Peckford]

We believe that any woman who wants to serve in public life and pursue elected office absolutely deserves a fair shot at it, just as with their male counterparts. We don't have a lens in terms of issues or ideology; we're really about representation. This is a democracy. Unfortunately, we've suffered for centuries now, some 151 years, from lopsided representation, and we believe women are critical to every single political party and political mechanism that exists.

We can't fulfill our mandate without really believing that women get to decide who they want to run for and what their life experience and values suggest, what that expresses itself as in terms of a party affiliation.

What we also know about a lot of women, believe it or not, is that they don't actually come in with a strong partisan identity. When they're considering running, many women who have never been connected to formal political spaces are actually in huge internal debates about where they land, because of, I think, how women are less connected to formal political spaces. Even at an early age, even at a student government level, we see that women are often making really tough choices and they could go a number of different ways, depending on the party leader and what's happening within whatever jurisdiction they're thinking of running.

[Eleni Bakopanos]

That's one of the reasons we give an opportunity at panels for them to get the viewpoints of each of the individual parties. We do not influence in any way the choice, but we have that debate and we hope to continue to have that debate so that women can choose on their own how they see themselves in the political spectrum.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you.

On a similar note, why is it important to have women from all parties involved and running for office?

[Nancy Peckford]

We did an analysis in the last election that suggested that there were 97 ridings where if you wanted to vote for one the three major parties, you couldn't, so think about that.

A third of Canadians were going to the polls and they didn't have a single woman to choose from. We just feel this is profoundly unfair to Canadians, not just women but to Canadians, who, in fact, do want to see more women in politics across party lines. For women not to be better reflected in riding by riding democratic choices across the country is absurd, and if.... Those were the federal numbers in 2015, but we have provinces and territories in this country that are fielding many fewer women in proportion to their male counterparts.

We've got to do better for Canadians really. I think it's about Canadians. Poll after poll demonstrates that Canadians actually do want to see more women on the ballot. They want the choice. From our perspective this is really about giving Canadians reasonable and fair choices in terms of who they want to see serve them in whatever capacity it is.

[Eleni Bakopanos]

That goes back to the political parties and the choices they make.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

No, it's okay. I'm finding this panel fascinating. I'm taking lots of notes.

Thank you very much.

Ms. Quach, you have your seven minutes.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank our three witnesses for being here. Their testimony is very interesting and allows me to have different opinions on the issue.

I represent the riding of Salaberry—Suroît, a very rural riding. Julie McNeil, a young woman from my riding, attended and was delighted. I find it interesting to hear from women from rural areas as well.

Do you think the government should invest more in the… A lot of information doesn't necessarily reach rural areas. According to a Statistics Canada study, women themselves said they lacked information.

Do you think more initiatives should be aimed at informing women more?

When I went door-to-door, although I wouldn't know exactly how often, I was often greeted by women who told me they had no opinion about it and went to get their husbands. It really happened to me a lot.

Do you think this should be supported by the federal government?

[Eleni Bakopanos]

I think Elections Canada needs to have a system, as was done during the last election campaign. It did that for young people. I think it should do the same for women. However, we can start with the basics. The country's education system doesn't include any civic participation courses. As citizens, we not only have rights, we also have responsibilities to our country and to the system. We talk a lot about our rights, but we talk less about our responsibilities as citizens. Elections Canada is a non-partisan organization, that is, it isn't part of the political system, and it needs to do more.

As far as rural areas are concerned, it's true that few women stand as candidates during an election campaign. Perhaps it's because they have major responsibilities, for example because they work on the farm or in agriculture.

I don't have a solution to suggest, but I'd ask you to study the few possible solutions we offer. Personally, I think it will help women with children to consider a career in politics.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Do you think that our electoral system, a first-past-the-post system, could help in terms of diversifying political representatives, in order to have women, of course, but also racialized people and indigenous representatives? Do you think that having a proportional system could help diversify representations?

[Eleni Bakopanos]

Equal Voice hasn't taken a position in favour of one system or another. I think the important thing is to have any system. Even if a proportional electoral system were used, it would still be the leader who would decide who would be on the list first or second. It wouldn't make much difference unless you change the culture and the way women themselves demand change. We have to take that into account, but we can do small things.

I'll give you a very simple example. The members' pictures could be on the ballot. Why are there no photos to help illiterate women? I worked at the provincial level for 30 years, and the subject always came back on the table. In Quebec, there are now photos on the ballot. This will help voters, men or women, to know who they are voting for. It is very simple.

People work in polling stations. Most of the time, they are women, but often they aren't paid or are paid a minimum wage. Some don't want to work there because they are on social assistance. If we work in a polling station, we see our benefits reduced for having participated in democracy.

I think there are many things that could change the system to encourage more citizen participation in general and more participation by women.

I know that's not the subject of your study, but it's all connected. If the voting system is changed, more women will want to run in politics, regardless of the level of government.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

You are not the first to talk about the lack of networking for women. Initiatives have been supported by Status of Women Canada. During the last municipal elections, for example, more and more initiatives were carried out by and for women in general.

Should the federal government add more, not only during elections, but also between them?

[Eleni Bakopanos]

Yes, absolutely.

[Nancy Peckford]

With 150 years of lopsided, overwhelmingly male representation—with some good men among them, of course—I think we have a moral and ethical obligation to ensure that we make sufficient efforts to connect women to political spaces.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Perfect.

As far as racialized women are concerned, within Equal Voice, are you involved in trying to find women so that they can get involved in politics? What strategies do you use? What could we draw inspiration from?

[Nancy Peckford]

From the perspective of Daughters of the Vote, as our signature initiative, we were incredibly deliberate about who we chose, in part because of the kinds of questions we asked, and then what criteria we applied to the evaluation of those questions. I think you certainly have to invest earlier in communities and in women who don't necessarily see themselves fully reflected in the political process. We see Daughters of the Vote as really a 10-, 15-, or 20-year investment down the road for who identifies and feels comfortable in political spaces.

On our national board, we now have an equity committee that is in fact looking at exactly this question: where can we go as a country in ensuring sufficient representation among communities that have historically not been well represented, whether they indigenous, ethnocultural, rural, or what have you?

The conversation is really robust, but we believe that our model for Daughters of the Vote was extremely successful in identifying 67 indigenous women to be part of the program, and promoting a lot of cross-cultural conversation while they were here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Awesome. Thank you so much.

We're now going to move over to Bernadette Jordan for seven minutes.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you very much to our panellists today.

Ms. Glasgo, first to you, I'd like to say congratulations for putting your name forward. We may not agree in terms of our values or our beliefs, but at the same time, I think anyone, whether male or female, whatever gender, who puts their name on a ballot deserves credit. Thank you so much for that.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I want to ask Equal Voice a couple of questions with regard to Daughters of the Vote specifically. It was an amazing program, no question. I'm prefacing that because you know there is a “but” in there.

If you look around the table, you see that I am probably the oldest woman in the room—