Canada’s “Feminist” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Part One)
Even though the Liberal MPs elected weren’t anywhere close to gender parity in Parliament in 2015, about a quarter of LPC MPs being women, there was a big todo made about Mr Trudeau’s choice of a cabinet that was half male & half female.
The Prime Minister has gotten a lot of ink about his gender parity cabinet, and his insistence that he is a feminist.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pictured above with female Cabinet Ministers:
The Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of Democratic Institutions January 10, 2017 – Present
The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau Minister of International Development November 4, 2015 – Present
The Honourable Mary F.Y. Ng Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion July 18, 2018 – Present
The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Nov 4, 2015 – Jan 14, 2019 Minister of Veterans Affairs January 14, 2019 – Present Associate Minister of National Defence January 14, 2019 – Present
The Honourable Catherine McKenna Minister of Environment and Climate Change November 4, 2015 – Present
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland Minister of Foreign Affairs January 10, 2017 – Present
The Honourable Maryam Monsef Minister of Democratic Institutions November 4, 2015 – January 10, 2017 Minister of Status of Women January 10, 2017 – Present
The Honourable Bardish Chagger Minister of Small Business and Tourism November 4, 2015–July 18, 2018 Leader of the Government in the House of Commons August 19, 2016 – Present
The Honourable Jane Philpott Minister of Health November 4, 2015 – August 28, 2017 Minister of Indigenous Services August 28, 2017 – January 14, 2019 President of the Treasury Board January 2019 – Present
The Honourable Judy Foote Receiver General for Canada November 4, 2015 – August 24, 2017 Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility[b] November 4, 2015 – August 24, 2017
Canada’s “Feminist” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Part One)
Even though the Liberal MPs elected weren’t anywhere close to gender parity in Parliament in 2015, about a quarter of LPC MPs being women, there was a big todo made about Mr Trudeau’s choice of a cabinet that was half male & half female.
The Prime Minister has gotten a lot of ink about his gender parity cabinet, and his insistence that he is a feminist.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pictured above with female Cabinet Ministers:
The Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of Democratic Institutions January 10, 2017 – Present
The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau Minister of International Development November 4, 2015 – Present
The Honourable Mary F.Y. Ng Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion July 18, 2018 – Present
The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Nov 4, 2015 – Jan 14, 2019 Minister of Veterans Affairs January 14, 2019 – Present Associate Minister of National Defence January 14, 2019 – Present
The Honourable Catherine McKenna Minister of Environment and Climate Change November 4, 2015 – Present
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland Minister of Foreign Affairs January 10, 2017 – Present
The Honourable Maryam Monsef Minister of Democratic Institutions November 4, 2015 – January 10, 2017 Minister of Status of Women January 10, 2017 – Present
The Honourable Bardish Chagger Minister of Small Business and Tourism November 4, 2015–July 18, 2018 Leader of the Government in the House of Commons August 19, 2016 – Present
The Honourable Jane Philpott Minister of Health November 4, 2015 – August 28, 2017 Minister of Indigenous Services August 28, 2017 – January 14, 2019 President of the Treasury Board January 2019 – Present
The Honourable Judy Foote Receiver General for Canada November 4, 2015 – August 24, 2017 Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility[b] November 4, 2015 – August 24, 2017
What matters is that if 60% of Canadians don’t have representation in Parliament, we have a pretty poor Representative Democracy. But it doesn’t have to be that way. More than 90 countries around the world have adopted some form of Proportional Representation, some more than a century ago.
In the final pie we see clearly the Liberal election result in 2015 nearly perfectly mirrors the Conservative election result in 2011.
The only difference is that now the Liberal Party holds all the power, although it only earned 39% of the vote.
As Bardish tells us in the video, the Liberal Party voted overwhelmingly to adopt the Electoral Reform resolution her riding association put forward, which is why it became Liberal Policy. Justin Trudeau and his campaign team chose to adopt this policy as the prominent campaign promise Bardish was so proud of. And the new Government renewed that promise in the Throne speech (5:13). But now Prime Minister Trudeau gets to govern dictatorially, (just as his predecessor did). He has unilaterally gone back on a promise his own party overwhelmingly supported that he might keep the disproportional power he acquired in the unfair electoral system he vowed to replace.
First Past The Post is as unfair today as it ever was. It seems Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party doesn’t mind treating Canadians unfairly if they benefit.
Women in Politics In 2015 twelve members of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet (approximately 30%) were women. The Harper Government: 77 female MPs ~ 25%. The Trudeau Government: 88 female MPs ~ 26%. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decison to name 15 women members to his 30 seat Privy Council made news around the world “because…
But we need to remember the reason Prime Minister Trudeau’s gender balanced cabinet was newsworthy — it did not happen naturally. Although Canadian women make up about half the population, electing 25% women to the House of Commons was a record when Mr. Harper’s government managed it, just as electing 26% was a record for Mr. Trudeau’s government.
Whoop de doo.
That’s not exactly fair representation, but that is what you get with a First Past The Post electoral system.
While Mr. Trudeau is to be commended for attempting to redress that wrong, implementing a gender quota is an artificial fix. One side effect is that such a policy severely limits the pool of cabinet choices when half the cabinet must be chosen from a quarter of the MPs. Whether true or not, whenever a quota system is used, there are always mutterings asking if those who are chosen may not in fact be qualified for the job.
Cabinet Ministers are chosen entirely at the discretion of the Prime Minister. Any MP can be quickly scooped up for a Cabinet position, and just as easily turfed out again, all at the discretion of one man: the Prime Minister.
In Mr. Trudeau’s Cabinet, however, the male members are being chosen from three quarters of the MPs, so there will be no doubt they are worthy of the power and authority they’ve been given. But female members are being chosen from a mere quarter of the MPs. This certainly can be easily used to undermine the public perception of the value of female Cabinet Ministers. The optics of this combined with a quota certainly undermines the idea that Ministers are chosen purely on merit.
The very existence of this quota is entirely at the Prime Minister’s discretion. Which means it us not a permanent fix: it can be discarded at any time. This Prime Minister could easily change his mind about gender parity (just as he did with his Electoral Reform promise). Or the next Prime Minister may as easily choose to exclude female MPs from his Cabinet altogether. Like any policy developed under First Past The Post, this could become a pendulum issue swinging back and forth between Liberals and Conservatives.
Women chosen to serve as Ministers are well aware they owe the PM a debt of gratitude for bestowing this honour on them. When the man with the power tells the Minister of Democratic Institutions that Proportional Representation is not an option, what can she do but go along. Because female Cabinet Ministers surely know the prize can be peremptorily withdrawn at his discretion for any reason. Or none. Such context will most certainly guarantee that some (if not all) women Ministers will be very careful to do as they are told. Will they fight for what they know is right or will they toe the party line to protect their status and position?
On the other hand, if Canada elected women in more proportional numbers in a more natural way, such a quota would hardly be necessary. There would be a reasonably large pool of women MPs from which Ministers can be chosen on merit. If they share a level playing field, women and men could assert themselves with confidence (and hopefully do what’s right). Wouldn’t that be something!
Diversity
It also seems the claims that Prime Minister Trudeau’s Cabinet is “the country’s most diverse” need also be taken with a grain of salt.
AS Rachel Décoste points out, “The previous Harper cabinet included women, Aboriginals, South Asians, East Asians, Quebecers and a person with a disability. If that’s not diversity, I don’t know what is.” Ms. Décoste goes on to explain:
“For visible minorities, PM Trudeau’s inaugural cabinet is decidedly less diverse than PM Harper’s. The absence of East Asians (Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, etc.) is jarring.
“The presence of black Canadians, the third largest racial demographic, is also deficient. Despite a record four Afro-Canadian MPs elected from a voter base blindly loyal to the Liberals, PM Trudeau shut them out of cabinet.
“Harper did not name any African-Canadians to cabinet. He had no black MPs to choose from. Despite a record four Afro-Canadian MPs elected, Trudeau shut them out of cabinet.”
Canadian Politicians: Kathleen Wynn, Elizabeth May, Andrea Horwath, Catherine Fife, Bardish Chagger, Lorraine Rekmans
Electoral Reform
Instead of relying on the temporary fix of patchwork quotas, the Canadian Government’s continuing failure to reflect the diversity of Canadians in the House of Commons could be addressed in a more stable and balanced manner through adoption of some form of Proportional Representation. As demonstrated in my graph, as a rule it is the countries using Proportional Representation that outperform Canada in both gender parity and overall citizen representation.
Equal Voice thinks it could take the Canadian Government 90 years to achieve gender parity naturally if we continue on as we are. Frankly, if we keep First Past The Post I think that’s wildly optimistic. Any way you slice it, this is simply unacceptable in a representative democracy.
It’s great that the suffragettes fought for our right to vote; but it’s too bad they didn’t win effective votes for Canadian women. On this International Women’s Day, it is important for all Canadian women to understand: if the Canadian Government is serious about gender parity it must begin with Proportional Representation.
This is the thirty-first article in the Whoa!Canada: Proportional Representation Series
This is the twenty-fourth article in the Whoa!Canada: Proportional Representation Series
On the 1st anniversary of the Liberal Majority, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggests Canadians have lost our “appetite” for electoral reform now that his party has won a majority government.
A majority built on 39% of the votes cast.
Just as Mr. Harper had a majority built on 39% of the votes cast.
Our Electoral System Is Changing
Something unprecedented happened in the 42nd Canadian federal election of 2015. Every party — except the one in power — campaigned on electoral reform. This is something that would never happen without wide spread dissatisfaction with the electoral system we use now.
When most people feel they can’t vote for what they want, even if the person they vote for is elected, they don’t have the representation in Parliament they want. When the system fails to serve us, we don’t feel engaged in or satisfied by the process. When a majority of voters are routinely unrepresented, when some votes count more than others, but most votes don’t count at all, there is something wrong with an electoral system.
Even though we don’t understand the problem or know how to fix it, we know something isn’t working. So when Mr. Trudeau said, “We will make every vote count,” it resonated with Canadians.
The Liberal Party promise was itself an acknowledgement of the uncomfortable truth that every vote does not count in the voting system Canadians use now.
Our votes need to count as much today as they did last October.
The electoral reform process has barely begun. Although the public consultation is over, the ERRE Committee hasn’t even finished hearing experts.
Your vote should count. And so should mine. All of our voices deserve to be heard, but they won’t be until we have a fair electoral system. Canadians have been waiting for meaningful electoral reform for a hundred and fifty years. We can’t let them walk away from this election promise, this is our historic opportunity to create a stronger democracy and public policy that serves all Canadians.
Please phone or email your MP to let them know that we expect them to keep their election promise to make every vote count.
Tell your MP that backing off on electoral reform will lose your vote.
Here are the phone numbers and email addresses of our Waterloo Region Liberal MPs.
Bryan May – Cambridge
telephone: 519 624 7440
email: Bryan.May.P9@parl.gc.ca
If you aren’t in Waterloo Region, you should contact your Liberal MP too. And if you don’t know who your MP is, you can find out here by Postal Code. If you know who it is but need the contact info you can find it here by typing your MP’s name.
Image Credits: Justin Trudeau by A.k.fung has been dedicated to the Public Domain, which made it possible for me to dedicate my mini-poster to the Public Domain as well.
This is the thirty-first article in the Whoa!Canada: Proportional Representation Series
• 
The Liberal Party promise was itself an acknowledgement of the uncomfortable truth that every vote does not count in the voting system Canadians use now.
