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 Chrétien appointed nine women to his 37-member cabinet in 2000 – 24 per cent – and 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)
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13 comments:
I think that it would be good to have an equwal amount of woman in the cabinet as men because women and men are different and there are more women than men in the world so the cadinit would be more acriet and effisent
This article is a very interesting article in deed.
This shows the increasing rate of higher education of women and women in the work place.
This is advantage of the country since we can get better political figureds by getting wider variety of people to elect, choose, and rely on.
This is the sign of brighter future of Canada, and women working and game fair and same education as men.
I think appointing women to do special things is very cool.
i tjink is good because they have almost 40% of the cabinet is women and is good to have also women because you have diffrent options and diffrent wnany of thinking.
I think that there should be an equal amount of woman and men in the cabinet. Woman and men are different therefore they may have different points of view.
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. This is really important.
I think it is good to have girls in the cabiet it is a very fair treatment of the other gender
A womens point of view on the cabinet because they have a very different take on things then men. They are much more calm and percosious then men. That is good because they could remain calm even when the men are getting angry, and they could also stop men from making a bad choice like attacking another coutry when they could resolve the problem another way.
i think you shuld put the 50% of men and 50% of women in the cabinet. There are more women in the world so we have to put the same.
This is a nery informative article about how more and more women in are entering and are being given the chance to participate and have their say in politics. It is good that the govrnement is showing the world that women should have a say in things. I hope through what they have done that Canada and the rest of the world can follow their example.
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
What i think :
I think that if the womans does make it up to 36 -40% of the cabint then that will make history, because in the past of most canada's history. Mostly only man, has been a leader etc..
So, if woman does make it, i think i will change a lot of point of view of most people
I think by having alot of woman in gevornment will help Canada. There was mainly men in gevornment and adding about the sam amount of woman and men would make history. This will cause change and and right now canada needs some change. So i think this idea is very good and should go through.
I think that this is a great job for the women in Canada this is what they have been fighting for all along now they have set the record for most women in cabinet. This will be a great oppourunity for women to get an equal shot at everything their perspectives will also be taken in. This shows that many women are getting better education and working their way up athority.
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