Mr. Speaker, the Inter-Parliamentary Union is an international organization of national parliaments. One of its key initiatives is advancing gender parity among legislatures, so when Senator Salma Ataullahjan, a strong Canadian woman, put her name forward to become the president of this organization, I cheered.
However, something curious happened. Part of this organization, the IPU, are trying to bully her, the only woman on the ballot, to withdraw her candidacy. As a female parliamentarian, I find it offensive that an international organization that purports to stand for women's participation in politics and that Canada sends a lot of tax dollars to support would entertain discussions to remove a female option from consideration.
Senator Ataullahjan embodies a spirit of collaborative multilateralism that the world sorely needs right now. I call upon the Canadian government to publicly support her in her endeavour, to publicly denounce efforts to prevent a strong, Canadian woman from being on the ballot, and to remind the IPU how much Canada contributes to the organization.