Martin Regg Cohn, Peggy Nash (not pictured), and the Ryerson Democracy Exchanged hosted this panel featuring former NDP Premier of Alberta (2015-2019), Rachel Notley, and former Liberal Premier of Ontario (2014-2018), Kathleen Wynne.
Despite being premiers of two major provinces in Canada just over three years ago, Canada has only one female Premier in 2020, the Premier of Northwest Territories, Caroline Cochrane. The two leaders spoke to the public about how women in politics are more willing and likely to respond level-headedly and with facts, how their experiences in Canadian politics were, and discuss what is in store for the future of female politicians in Canada.
The two topics that I found interesting were; how politics under the same party name differ based on geography in our country, such as the BC Liberals and the Ontario Liberals, and how no female First Minister in Canada to date has ever been re-elected. Christy Clark (B.C.), Alison Redford (Alberta), Kathy Dunderdale (Newfoundland), Rachel Notley (Alberta), Kathleen Wynne (Ontario), Pauline Marois (Quebec), and Eva Aariak (Nunavut) are all female Premiers who did not get re-elected. Though most of these leaders have stayed on as MPs, MLAs, MPPs, or leaders, keeping their commitment to their constituents whereas most male leaders who lose elections step down, as it is seen as a prestige issue.
Kathleen Wynne discusses how staying on as an MPP helps as she has been on the opposite side as Premier, therefore knowing what works and what doesn't, keeping criticism effective. Rachel Notley raises the question as to why only a few women getting to that position in the first place.
Cohn asks the leaders why they chose to be in their respective parties to which Wynne responds that she is a centrist and does not want to be connected to organized labour or capitalists while mentioning Bob Rae's tenure, whereas Notley explains how she grew up in an NDP family, and how her parents influenced her political ideologies, which were set in stone to her by the age of 17.
Rachel Notley says how being in a left-of-centre party made her hold herself to a higher moral standard.
Both leaders talked about how the rural-urban divide also plays a role in how provinces are governed. Notley also takes this opportunity to explain how Alberta is not represented by right-wing extremists, and how the province is also very progressive with strong young diverse, and educated populations. Notley also mentions that the divide in Alberta is more political than sexist, as Allison Redford was once Premier, and Danielle Smith was the Leader of the Opposition. This statement reminded me of Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi's when he said Alberta has [had] a female Premier [Alison Redford, PC], a female Leader of the Opposition [Danielle Smith, Wildrose] and an Indian-Canadian Liberal leader [Raj Sherman] while the capital city had a Jewish mayor [Stephen Mandel] and the largest had a Muslim one [himself].
The panel ended with Notley and Wynne taking questions from Ryerson University students on how being an LGBTQ woman or how being a woman in general poses challenges while leading a province.
The two topics that I found interesting were; one, how politics under the same party name differ based on geography in our country, the BC Liberals and the Ontario Liberals for example, and two, how no female First Minister in Canada to date has never been re-elected, though most of these leaders have stayed on as MPs, MLAs, MPPs, or leaders, keeping their commitment to their constituents whereas most male leaders who lose elections step down, as it is seen as a prestige thing. Kathleen Wynne discusses how staying on as an MPP helps as she has been on the opposite side as Premier, and she knows what works and what doesn't, keeping criticism effective. Rachel Notley raises the question as to why only a few women getting to that position in the first place. It is also interesting to me that these women were handed these leadership positions only when their respective parties were in a bad position, ex. the 1993 PC leadership race that elected Kim Campbell, and the 2013 Ontario Liberal leadership race that elected Kathleen Wynne.
My only criticism is that they also should have invited the former Premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark, to share her experience as well, and how it was like to be a centre-right female premier of a fairly left-wing province, covering all sides of the political spectrum.
As of 2020, current female party leaders and female politicians in power in Canada include;
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland
Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
The Honourable Candice Bergen
Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Canada and Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
Rachel Notley
Leader of the Opposition in Alberta and Leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party
Sonia Furstenau
Leader of the Green Party of British Columbia
Naomi Hunter
Leader of the Green Party of Saskatchewan
Andrea Horwath
Leader of the Opposition in Ontario and Leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party
Dominique Anglade
Leader of the Opposition in Québec and Leader of the Québec Liberal Party
Manon Massé
Leader of Québec Solidaire
Alison Coffin
Leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party
The Honourable Caroline Cochrane
Premier of the Northwest Territories
The Honourable Donna Harpauer
Deputy Premier of Saskatchewan and Deputy Leader of the Saskatchewan Party
The Honourable Heather Stefanson
Deputy Premier of Manitoba and Deputy Leader of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party
The Honourable Christine Elliot
Deputy Premier of Ontario and Deputy Leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party
The Honourable Geneviève Guilbault
Deputy Premier of Québec and Deputy Leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec
The Honourable Karen Casey
Deputy Premier of Nova Scotia and Deputy Leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party
The Honourable Darlene Compton
Deputy Premier of Prince Edward Island and Deputy Leader of the Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative Party
The Honourable Siobhán Coady
Deputy Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and Deputy Leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party
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