Honourable senators, how do we increase the numbers of women in elected office? I think we can all agree that it is vitally important to encourage young women, such as the young women in our gallery today, to take an interest in politics and to see it as a worthy and rewarding career.

In early April, 338 young women aged 18 to 23, one from every federal riding across the country, came to Ottawa to take their seat in the House of Commons and participate in four days of learning about Parliament and public policy. They came here as part of Daughters of the Vote, a program created by the non-partisan NGO Equal Voice in 2017 to commemorate a century of voting rights achieved for many Canadian women. This year, for the first time, delegates were also welcomed and participated in the Senate chamber.

Now that I have secured a speaker’s spot — thank you — I especially want to thank Speaker Furey and Senate staff. I wish to thank Senate leaders Senators Bellemare, Day and Smith for their warm welcome to the delegates, and Senators Bernard, Dyck, Frum and Miville-Dechêne for serving on a lively panel, which was rated by delegates as among the best events of their Ottawa experience. I am grateful that all senators had the opportunity to meet delegates from their province, region and from across the country. I know that these young women went away with a sense of great opportunity and purpose.

As wonderful as these events are, honourable senators, we cannot wait until the next generation of women steps forward to change politics. We must elect more women now.

In a few short months a federal election will be held. Right now Canada ranks sixty-first in the world in terms of our representation of women in our House of Commons, with only 27 per cent of the house female. We must do better.

As honourable members in the other place prepare to hit the campaign trail, I am issuing a challenge this week to all party leaders in the House of Commons to nominate more women. I am not asking for a quota. I am simply asking them to pledge to do better, that is, to nominate more women this year than their party did last time. I hope other senators will join me in asking leaders to do more.

By taking this action, Canada’s political parties will be taking a big step toward increasing the number of women in our next Parliament. In fact, at this point, this is the only way we can make progress. The time for action is now.

I can’t wait to see our new House of Commons next fall with more women representing all parties, regions, and with diverse backgrounds.

Meegwetch and thank you.