Ottawa ridings among few with all-female ballots

Two Ottawa ridings are among only a handful in the country where women have been nominated byall four major national political parties in the upcoming federal election.

In KanataCarleton, candidates for the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Green Party are all women.

InOttawa Centre, candidates for those four parties, as well as forthe People's Party of Canada (PPC), are female.

All the political parties have indicatedthat they see the importance of having women at the table.- Nasha Brownridge, Equal Voice

"There are many ridings across Canada where there are no women running for any of the major political parties," said Nasha Brownridge,a spokesperson for Equal Voice, anot-for-profit organization that works to get more women elected."To have two in one region [with all women], it's a great thing."

The other three ridings where all four major national party candidates are women are London West, HaldimandNorfolk and EtobicokeNorth, where the PPCcandidate is also a woman, Renata Ford, widow of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

'An all-time record''

According to Equal Voice, which provides training and tools to help women run for office, and also does data tracking and analysis during elections,all four major national parties, as well as the Bloc Qubcois, haveincreased their numbers of female candidatesthiselection.

"In 2019, we've hit an all-time record for Canada," Brownridgesaid.

Equal Voice did not include the PPC in its analysis because the nascent party wasn't involvedin the last federal election.

The Liberals, Conservatives, NDP,Greens and Bloc have a combined total of595women out of1,430 nominated candidates, or 42 per cent, up from 33 per cent last election.

That's a significantincrease, according to Brownridge.

"All the political parties have indicatedthat they see the importance of having women at the table," she said.

Still, there arenearly 30 ridings across Canadawhere there are no women running for a major political party, according to Equal Voice.

Among the major national parties, the NDP has the most female candidates nominated, with 165, while the Greens have 156, the Liberals 132and the Conservatives 107.

There are 55 women running under the PPC banner, and 35 for the Bloc.

30% within reach

In the last federal election, 88 women were elected, occupying about 26 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons.

That's short of the 30 per cent that's generallyconsidered thecritical mass of women required to affect policy decisions, according to Brownridge.

In order to reach that threshold, Canadians would have to elect 102 women this fall.

"We have a huge opportunity this election to hit that number," Brownridge said."Given the increase in the number of women that have actually been nominatedfor the 2019 election, this is absolutely doable."