Political parties in Canada have a long way to go before their leaders begin to resemble the electorates they seek to lead.
Throughout Canadian history, almost all of the people chosen to lead provincial and federal parties have been white men. Even in more recent years, however, the leadership of political parties has failed to reflect the gender and racial diversity of the wider population — and parties don’t seem to be getting any better at it.
Winning a party leadership is no easy thing. Those who do usually have a few things working in their favour.
They are politically active, inside or outside of their parties. They have teams around them that support their leadership bids. They’re able to convince party members that they are the best people to speak for their parties — and that they have the so-called “electability” factor.
Studies show, however, that systemic obstacles prevent women and people of colour from getting involved in politics in the first place. For them, rising to the party leadership usually means overcoming obstacles and prejudices that white male candidates don’t face.
An analysis of data from the last few decades shows the result — and it isn’t pretty.
Since 1990, 175 leaders of provincial or federal parties have either led a party into an election in which it won seats, or (in the case of a shut-out) led into an election a party that had won seats in the previous vote. (This analysis has excluded territorial leaders, interim leaders or leaders of parties that did not win seats in an election.)
Only 18 per cent of these leaders were women. Just eight per cent were people of colour.
According to the 2016 census, 51 per cent of Canadians are women and about 27 per cent either self-identified as Indigenous or as visible minority.
Rita Johnston became the first female premier in Canada when she won the B.C. Social Credit leadership in 1991. (Tim Pelling / Canadian Press)
Women began winning party leaderships in bigger numbers in the early 1990s. Rita Johnston, named leader of the British Columbia Social Credit Party in 1991, became Canada’s first female premier. Kim Campbell, who won the federal Progressive Conservative leadership in 1993, became Canada’s first and only female prime minister to date.
About 23 per cent of party leaderships decided between 1990 and 1994 ended with women being chosen. That percentage was cut nearly in half in the late 1990s and dropped even further in the early 2000s. Between 2005 and 2009, however, just over one-third of party leadership races were won by women.
That share decreased again in the 2010s. Since 2015, only one in ten newly-named party leaders have been women.
No racialized Canadian won a major party leadership in the 1990s. That changed at the turn of the century but the trend line has been largely stable since then: people of colour have won about 13 per cent of leadership contests over the last 20 years.
New Democrats have the most diversity
The New Democrats have chosen a higher percentage of women or people of colour as party leaders than the Liberals or the various conservative parties across the country.
Since 1990, 16 per cent of NDP leaderships at the federal and provincial levels have been won by racialized Canadians — current federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is one of them. Just over 12 per cent of Liberal leaderships have been won by people of colour since 1990, while the Conservatives (of all stripes) have not elected any over that period.
Women have won about 29 per cent of NDP leadership races, compared to about 15 per cent for both the Liberals and Conservatives.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, right, and Wab Kinew, Manitoba NDP leader, during the 2019 federal election campaign. New Democrats have chosen more women or people of colour as leaders at the provincial or federal levels than either the Liberals or the Conservatives. (Andrew Vaughan / Canadian Press)
Proximity to power might have an impact on the chances of a white man winning a party leadership. Just about half of Canada’s racialized or female party leaders took over their parties at times when they were either in power or serving as the Official Opposition; nearly two-thirds of male party leaders did the same.
There isn’t much regional disparity involved in this pattern, either. The number of leadership races won by women over the last 30 years ranged from seven per cent of the total in Nova Scotia to 27 per cent in British Columbia, but the sample size in each province is relatively small.
Regionally, western and central Canada had similar rates of racial and gender diversity among their party leaders, while Atlantic Canada’s party leadership was more male and white. Atlantic Canada, however, is also the least racially diverse region in the country.
Diversity today no higher than before
The current roster of party leaders is not particularly diverse. Every provincial government is led by a white male. (Caroline Cochrane, premier of the Northwest Territories, is Métis and Nunavut Premier Joe Savikataaq is Inuit). Back in 2013, six provincial premiers and one territorial premier were women.
About 11 per cent of the current party leaders (including a handful of interim leaders) are non-white Canadians, and two of them are one step away from power. Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew and newly-named Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade occupy the Official Opposition roles in their respective legislatures.
Just 16 per cent of current provincial or federal party leaders are women — and none of them is in a position of power right now. Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley are the opposition leaders in their provinces (as is Anglade). Manon Massé of Québec Solidaire, Alison Coffin of the Newfoundland and Labrador NDP and interim federal Green Leader Jo-Ann Roberts lead parties currently in third place or lower in their respective legislatures.
Dominique Anglade was named the leader of the Quebec Liberals last month. She is one of several women who are leaders of the Official Opposition in their provinces. (Jacques Boissinot / Canadian Press)
The representation of people of colour and women among party leaders is even lower than it is among MPs in the House of Commons — which itself is well below the national average. Only 29 per cent of MPs are women and about 18 per cent are people of colour.
There is some diversity in the leadership races being held across the country right now. The federal Green leadership is very diverse and both declared candidates for the B.C. Green title are women. One of four candidates for the Conservative leadership is a Black woman, Leslyn Lewis.
But the front-runners in that race (based on fundraising, polls and endorsements) are two white men — Peter MacKay and Erin O’Toole — as are both candidates for the leadership of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party and nearly all of the candidates running for the leadership of the Parti Québécois.
Putting aside the question of whether our representative democracy is actually representative of the people within it, there are good reasons to want to see more diversity in our political leadership. Studies have shown that businesses with more diverse leaders have better outcomes. Perhaps the same could be said of Canadian politics.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
