Women in the 39th Canadian Parliament
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Sixty-four of the 308 seats in the 39th Canadian Parliament are held by women, or 20.8%. Canada ranks 45th in the world in representation of women in the national lower house.
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[edit] General notes
Fifteen of the 64 female MPs (23.4%) were elected for the first time in the last election. The longest-serving female MPs are the Liberals Albina Guarnieri and Diane Marleau, both elected for the first time in the 1988 election. (New Democrat Dawn Black was also elected for the first time in that election; defeated in the 1993 election, she won her seat back in the most recent election.)
[edit] History
The female MPs currently in office make up a third of all 190 women who have sat in the Canadian House of Commons. The percentage of women has remained more or less stable since 1993.
[edit] By province
One immediately notes an almost complete absence of women MPs in the Atlantic provinces (one woman out of 34 seats, or 2.9%) while the highest ratios are in Quebec (almost 30%), in Manitoba, and in British Columbia.
| Province | Number of women MPs | Number of seats | Percentage of women |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 0 | 7 | 0% |
| Nova Scotia | 1 | 11 | 9.1% |
| Prince Edward Island | 0 | 4 | 0% |
| New Brunswick | 0 | 10 | 0% |
| Quebec | 22 | 75 | 29.3% |
| Ontario | 23 | 106 | 21.7% |
| Manitoba | 4 | 14 | 28.6% |
| Saskatchewan | 2 | 14 | 14.3% |
| Alberta | 2 | 28 | 7.1% |
| British Columbia | 9 | 36 | 25.0% |
| Territories | 1 | 3 | 33.3% |
| Totals | 64 | 308 | 20.8% |
[edit] By party
23.3% of all candidates in the most recent general election and 24.8% of candidates from the Parties that won representation in Parliament are women.
The NDP nominated the largest proportion of women: more than a third of all New Democratic candidates were women, and nearly a third of all female candidates in the election were New Democrats. Furthermore, the NDP ended up with a higher proportion of women in its caucus than women candidates, meaning it ran women in ridings they could win. The NDP caucus has the highest proportion of women of any caucus ever to hold official party status. 18.8% of female MPs are New Democrats while the NDP holds only 9.4% of the seats in the House.
However, it was with the Bloc Québécois that women candidates had the highest chance of winning: nearly three quarters of female Bloc candidates were elected. (As the Bloc runs candidates only in Quebec, the election of 50 Bloc MPs meant that any Bloc candidate had a 66.6% chance of winning.) 26.6% of female MPs are Bloquistes, while the Bloc holds only 16.2% of the seats.
As for the winning party, only 12% of Conservative candidates were women, and 11% of Conservative MPs are women, a total of fourteen; 21.5% of female MPs are Tories in a House that is 40.6% Conservative.
| Party | Number of female candidates | Number of candidates | Percentage of candidates who are women | Percentage of women candidates to be elected | Current number of female MPs | Current number of MPs | Percentage of women | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 38 | 308 | 12.3% | 36.8% | 14 | 124 | 11.3% | |
| Liberal | 79 | 308 | 25.6% | 26.6% | 21 | 102 | 20.6% | |
| Bloc Québécois | 23 | 75 | 30,7% | 73.91% | 17 | 51 | 33.3% | |
| NDP | 108 | 308 | 35.1% | 11.1% | 12 | 29 | 41.4% | |
| Green | 72 | 308 | 23.4% | 0% | 0 | 0 | — | |
| Other | 60 | 327 | 18.3% | 0% | 0 | 2 | 0% | |
| Totals | 380 | 1 634 | 23.3% | 16.8% | 64 | 308 | 20.8% |
[edit] Cabinet
The 27-member Cabinet contains six women ministers (22%), including one senator.
Of the 25 parliamentary secretaries, five (20%) are women.
Ten of the fourteen female government MPs (71%) are ministers or parliamentary secretaries.
[edit] Senate
The 100-seat Senate currently has 90 sitting senators, of whom 32 (35.5%) are women. Prime Minister Harper has only made one Senate appointment, a man (Michael Fortier); the previous prime minister, Paul Martin, made 17 Senate appointments, of whom six (35.3%) were women.
Two current Senators are members of the Cabinet; as noted above, one of them is a woman, Marjory LeBreton.
[edit] List of women MPs by province
Note: † indicates a cabinet minister, and * indicates a parliamentary secretary.
[edit] Newfoundland and Labrador
None
[edit] Nova Scotia
| Name | Party | Riding | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexa McDonough | NDP | Halifax |
[edit] Prince Edward Island
None
[edit] New Brunswick
None
[edit] Quebec
[edit] Ontario
[edit] Manitoba
| Name | Party | Riding | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tina Keeper | Liberal | Churchill | |
| Joy Smith | Conservative | Kildonan—St. Paul | |
| Anita Neville | Liberal | Winnipeg South Centre | |
| Judy Wasylycia-Leis | NDP | Winnipeg North |
[edit] Saskatchewan
| Name | Party | Riding | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lynne Yelich* | Conservative | Blackstrap | |
| Carol Skelton† | Conservative | Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar |
[edit] Alberta
| Name | Party | Riding | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diane Ablonczy* | Conservative | Calgary—Nose Hill | |
| Rona Ambrose† | Conservative | Edmonton—Spruce Grove |
[edit] British Columbia
[edit] Territories
| Name | Party | Riding | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nancy Karetak-Lindell | Liberal | Nunavut |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Women in Parliament - Parliament of Canada
- Current lists of women in the House of Commons - Parliament of Canada
- Historical lists of women in the House of Commons - Parliament of Canada
