Of course.
The Groupe femmes, politique et démocratie has been working on all kinds of other solutions for 20 years now. We conduct training, civic education, and general awareness activities. We have been doing that for 20 years, but the numbers have not changed.
In Quebec, the number of female representatives has not changed in 15 years. It climbed to 32%, but then fell back down to 27%. It is currently 29.6%, which is under the 30% mark. It seems we can never get over the 30% mark, despite the efforts of our group and other stakeholders in Quebec.
For several years, the government has invested in all kinds of programs. For instance, we have regional tables in each region that work hard to increase the representation of women in municipal elections. Grants are also provided to municipal groups to promote the election of more women in all municipal elections.
We are not the only ones saying this. It is documented in the literature, so stronger measures are needed, something with teeth, whether that means quotas, parity laws or financial incentives. I know this is not the case throughout Canada, but in Quebec, political parties are 75% publicly funded. The political parties are directly funded by taxpayers' dollars. So we can wonder whether fair or equal representation should not in turn be an obligation.
In short, we see a range of solutions, but the real driver is exerting pressure on the political parties. In Quebec, we are preparing for a general election to be held in early October. Our group has worked very hard to make the various political parties aware that parity is essential. The discussion about parity is quite lively in Quebec these days, I have to say. There were municipal elections. A woman was elected mayor of Montreal and several other women were elected mayors of major cities. There is parity on municipal council of major cities such as Quebec and Montreal.
The timing is very good to exert pressure on the political parties. According to the latest of figures, 48% of candidates are women. There is no law, but there has been tremendous pressure on the political parties. From now on, these parties will consider that they are missing out if they don't have enough women on their team.
What we are trying to say here is that exerting pressure on political parties can produce change.