PM could set record for most women in cabinet
JANE TABER
Globe and Mail Update
October 29, 2008 at 9:01 PM EDT
Stephen Harper could make history Thursday by surpassing the record for the number of women in a federal cabinet and appointing the first cabinet minister from Nunavut, who is also a woman.
More women in cabinet could address some of the Prime Minister's challenges in Quebec, say political observers, who note that Premier Jean Charest turned around his fortunes after he chose women to make up half of his cabinet.
The Harper Conservatives elected 23 women MPs on Oct. 14, 12 more than in 2006. There were seven women in the Tories' last cabinet, two of whom were junior ministers. Mr. Harper is expected to add four or five more Thursday, bringing to 11 or 12 the number of women in what could be a 30-member cabinet.
This could be the largest percentage of women – 36 or 40 per cent – in a federal cabinet.
Jean Chr̩tien appointed nine women to his 37-member cabinet in 2000 Р24 per cent Рand Paul Martin had 12 women in his 39-member cabinet in 2003-04, or 30 per cent.
“Stephen Harper is very well positioned this time around [to add a significant number of women to cabinet],” said Françoise Gagnon, executive director of Equal Voice, an organization dedicated to getting more women elected in Canada. “He's got 23 women and if you look at the calibre who are coming to the Hill there's some huge talent pool in there for him to pick from. I think [Thursday] is going to show some interesting and possible historical results.”
Ms. Gagnon says that if Leona Aglukkaq, the first Conservative MP elected from Nunavut, is appointed to cabinet it would be “huge” because it addresses “the needs of a population whose voice has not been heard at that level before.”
Ms. Aglukkaq has held several positions in the territorial government and is expected to get a new northern development portfolio.
It's also expected that the Tory's new MP from PEI, Gail Shea, a former provincial minister, will be given the fisheries portfolio (the Conservatives have not had a seat in PEI since 1988). Lisa Raitt, who beat Tory turncoat Garth Turner in the coveted 905-area around Toronto, is also expected to be given a post, as is Shelly Glover, a bilingual Metis police officer from Manitoba.
The women-factor could play a role in reversing the Harper Tory fortunes in Quebec.
Peter Donolo, of The Strategic Counsel polling firm, said Mr. Harper's approval ratings in Quebec dropped significantly during the election campaign as a result of being “out of sync” with Quebeckers, including cutting cultural programs and announcing a youth justice scheme that was hugely unpopular in that province.
“He went from hero to zero in record time,” he said.
Adding more women could increase his success in the province as it did for Mr. Charest, whose voter-approval rating increased in a few months from 32 per cent to 49 per cent. Many credit this to the fact that he appointed women to half of his 18 cabinet positions.
“This … was very public, very symbolic,” Mr. Donolo said. “It doesn't just signal gender equity. It signals the kind of values the government has. Women tend to skew somewhat differently from men on a whole range of issues and it says you are going to be more sensitive to those issues … social issues, primarily.”
Sheila Copps, a former Liberal cabinet minister, said a government “gets more balance” with more women in senior roles.
“The problem that the government had with its conflicted cultural message, I don't think it would have happened [with more] women,” she said. “As a general rule, women tend to be more supportive of government involvement in supporting the collective and the society and not just the individual. In a sense women's views tend to very much reflect the view of Quebeckers and those are two areas they very much need work on.”
One Tory strategist said Mr. Harper will not put rookie women into senior cabinet posts to avoid the so-called “Rona effect” that saw Rona Ambrose, a young, untested MP from Alberta, flop as Environment Minister.
“I don't think you're going to see new MPs thrust into cabinet positions they are not ready for,” the strategist said.
Summary: The Conservatives could make history on Thursday by beating the record for the number of woman appointed to the federal cabinet. Harper could also make history if he appoints the first cabinet minister from Nunavut, who is also a woman.
There were 7 woman in Harper's last cabinet and he is expected to rase that number to 11 or 12 out of the cabinet of 30 members. This would mean that woman would make up 36 to 40 percent of the cabinet, which is the largest in history
Questions:
1. If Leona Aglukkaq is appointed to cabinet how is this important to Canada?
2. How are a woman's views different with a mans views in government according to Sheila Copps?
3. How does this relate to what we have studied so far in history?
By. Jono McConnell (8-02)
