That work must be done by the political parties. It is a long-term undertaking that must also be done on an ongoing basis by the political parties.
However, there is more and more talk in Quebec about tools. There is still no provincial legislation, but people are increasingly talking about a level of equality to be achieved—female candidates accounting for between 40% and 60% of all candidates in elections. That would be done while hoping, of course, that the women included in that gender equality initiative would be elected to Parliament.
I am very much in favour of adopting those kinds of measures and objectives, coupled with many other tools, as we know that we are fighting against systemic discrimination, once again. To reach a target whereby between 40% and 60% of candidates and elected representatives would be women, we need a set of tools.
However, having a very clear objective is very mobilizing, even with an objective of 50%, or parity. Some municipal and governmental political parties are now trying to reach a 50% target. However, this is not an issue that my organization, CIAFT, is working on. As we said, we are more focused on workplace rights and employment programs.
However, this issue is currently under a lot of discussion within Quebec's political parties. Applying gender parity measures is very strongly encouraged, but it still stems from voluntary measures and not coercive measures with real objectives to be achieved by the parties.