Women in the 39th Canadian Parliament
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Upon the dissolution of the
39th Canadian Parliament The 39th Canadian Parliament was in session from April 3, 2006 until September 7, 2008. The membership was set by the 2006 federal election on January 23, 2006, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections. The Parliament w ...
, 65 of the 308 seats (21.1 per cent) were held by women. Canada ranks 45th in the world in representation of women in the national lower house. There were 64 women elected to Parliament in the 2006 election, and the victory of
Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...
MP
Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac (born February 6, 1972) is a former Canadian politician. She served as a Member of Parliament (Canada), member of Parliament for the Bloc Québécois in the riding of Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot from 2007 to 2011. She was th ...
in a byelection on September 17, 2007 brought the number to 65. This matched but did not exceed the all-time record of 65 female MPs elected in the 2004 election, and the number of women in the House returned to 64 with the resignation of
Lucienne Robillard Lucienne Robillard (born June 16, 1945) is a Canadian politician and a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. She sat in the House of Commons of Canada as the member of Parliament for the riding of Westmount—Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. ...
on January 25, 2008. It nominally increased to a record 66 with the by-election wins of
Martha Hall Findlay Martha Hall Findlay (born August 17, 1959) is a Canadian businesswoman, entrepreneur, lawyer and politician who previously served as the president and CEO of the Canada West Foundation, a Calgary-based think tank, and is now senior vice-preside ...
and
Joyce Murray Joyce Murray (born July 11, 1954) is a Canadian politician, businesswoman and environmental advocate. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she has represented the riding of Vancouver Quadra in the House of Commons since 2008. She was re-e ...
on March 17, 2008, although the resignation of Brenda Chamberlain from the House effective April 7, 2008 reduced the number of women back to 65 just one week after Findlay and Murray were sworn in as MPs.


General notes

Fifteen of the 65 female MPs in the 39th Parliament, or 23.4 per cent, were elected for the first time in the 2006 election. The longest-serving female MPs were the Liberals
Albina Guarnieri Albina Guarnieri (born June 23, 1953) is a former Canadian politician. She was a Liberal member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 2011 who represented the Greater Toronto Area ridings of Mississauga East and Mississauga East—Co ...
and Diane Marleau, both elected for the first time in the 1988 election. (
New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...
Dawn Black Dawn Black (born April 1, 1943) is a politician in British Columbia, Canada. Born ''Dawn Whitty'', Black became involved in politics from a young age, she became an assistant to New Democratic Party Member of Parliament Pauline Jewett. Member ...
was also elected for the first time in that election; defeated in the 1993 election, she won her seat back in the 2006 election.) From Confederation to the end of the 39th Parliament, a total of 193 female MPs sat in the
House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...
, 4.79 per cent of the 4,023 total MPs ever to serve. The 65 female MPs upon dissolution of the 39th Parliament constitute 33.6 per cent of this total. The percentage of women in the House has remained more or less stable since 1993.


By province


By party

Women were 23.3 per cent of all candidates in the 2006 election, and 24.8 per cent of candidates from the parties that won representation in Parliament. The NDP nominated the largest proportion of women: more than a third of all New Democratic candidates were women, and nearly a third of all female candidates in the election were New Democrats. Furthermore, the NDP ended up with a higher proportion of women in its caucus than women candidates, meaning it ran women in ridings they could win – 18.8% of female MPs are New Democrats while the NDP holds only 9.4% of the seats in the House. As of 2007, the 12 women and 18 men currently sitting as New Democrats constitute the most gender-balanced party caucus ''ever'' elected to the Canadian House of Commons by a party with
official party status Official party status refers to the Westminster practice which is officially used in the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures of recognizing parliamentary caucuses of political parties. In official documents, this is sometimes re ...
. However, it was with the Bloc Québécois that women candidates had the highest chance of winning: nearly three quarters of female Bloc candidates were elected. (As the Bloc runs candidates only in Quebec, the election of 50 Bloc MPs meant that any Bloc candidate had a 66.6% chance of winning.) 26.6% of female MPs are Bloquistes, while the Bloc holds only 16.2% of the seats. As for the winning party, only 12% of Conservative candidates were women, and 11% of Conservative MPs are women, a total of fourteen; 21.5% of female MPs are Tories in a House that is 40.6% Conservative.


Cabinet

The 27-member
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
contains six women ministers (22%), including one senator. Of the 25 parliamentary secretaries, five (20%) are women. Ten of the fourteen female government MPs (71%) are ministers or parliamentary secretaries.


Senate

The 105-seat
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
currently has 90 sitting senators, of whom 32 (35.5%) are women.
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
has only made two Senate appointments to date, both men (
Michael Fortier Michael M. Fortier, (born January 10, 1962) is a Canadian financier, lawyer and former politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Minister of Public Works and Government Services from 2006 to 2008, and Minister of Internati ...
and
Bert Brown Bert Brown (March 22, 1938 – February 3, 2018) was a Canadian senator and retired farmer and development consultant who resided in Balzac, Alberta. Early life Brown farmed in Kathyrn, Alberta, from 1969 to 1999, after which they sold their fa ...
). The previous prime minister,
Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...
, made 17 Senate appointments, of whom six (35.3%) were women. Two current Senators are members of the Cabinet; as noted above, one of them is a woman,
Marjory LeBreton Marjory LeBreton (born July 4, 1940) is a Canadian former leader of the Government in the Senate of Canada, a cabinet-rank position; and past national chair of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Canada. She worked with four leaders of the Progres ...
.


List of women MPs by province

Note: † indicates a cabinet minister, and * indicates a parliamentary secretary.


Newfoundland and Labrador

''None''


Nova Scotia


Prince Edward Island

''None''


New Brunswick

''None''


Quebec

‡ Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac was elected to the House in a by-election on September 17, 2007. Lucienne Robillard resigned from the House on January 25, 2008.


Ontario

‡ Martha Hall Findlay was elected to the House in a by-election on March 17, 2008. Brenda Chamberlain has announced her resignation from the House effective April 7, 2008.


Manitoba


Saskatchewan


Alberta


British Columbia

‡ Joyce Murray was elected to the House in a by-election on March 17, 2008.


Territories


See also

*
Women in the 40th Canadian Parliament The 40th Canadian Parliament contained a record number of female Members of Parliament, with 69 women elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2008 federal election. However, this represented just 22 per cent of the 308 total MPs, and onl ...
* Women in Canadian politics *
Women in Canadian provincial and territorial legislatures This is a list of women who are currently members of the provincial and territorial Legislative Assemblies in Canada. Rankings To date, no provincial or territorial legislative assembly has achieved exact gender parity between women and men. Th ...


External links


Women in Parliament
- Parliament of Canada
Current lists of women in the House of Commons
- Parliament of Canada
Historical lists of women in the House of Commons
- Parliament of Canada {{Women in Canadian politics * 39th Canadian Parliament Parliament, 39