Moved second reading of Bill S-283, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (demographic information).

She said: Honourable senators, I rise to speak to Bill S-283, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (demographic information).

Bill S-283 will strengthen our democracy by increasing the transparency of our Parliament and political parties, for the benefit of all Canadians. First, we will have more information on who is running for federal office. Second, we will have more information on what the political parties are doing to elect more women and more candidates from other diverse groups.

How is Canada doing? Back in 1991, the report of the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing, known as the Lortie Commission, noted, “All things being equal, the House of Commons should reasonably reflect the country’s diversity.”

But things are not equal. Since 1921, the first election in which women could run federally, there have been 38,614 candidates: 83% men and 17% women. There have been 25 candidates of other gender identity. Today, women hold 30.4% of the seats in the House of Commons, although in the 2021 Census, they constituted 50.9% of Canada’s total population. More than one in four women, 25.8%, are part of the racialized population, and 4.5% are Indigenous.

In 1997, when the Inter-Parliamentary Union first published its world rankings of seats held by women in national parliaments, Canada stood twenty-first in the world. Today, Canada stands sixty-fourth. Our ranking in the world is falling because other countries are accelerating change. Intentional and legislated measures have been essential to improving women’s representation around the world and across all types of electoral systems.

The representation gap for women may be the largest gap, but it is not the only one. Other groups are under-represented in the House of Commons compared with the diversity of the population of Canada. The 2021 Census tells us that First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples make up 5% of the population. The Library of Parliament confirms that 3.3% of MPs elected in 2021 have Indigenous origins. The same comparison of 2021 Census results with 2021 election results reveals that 26.5% of the population is racialized compared with 15.7% of MPs, although the latter figure varies depending on the source used.

In the case of LGBTQ2+ people in Canada, the comparison is 4% of the population, according to the Library of Parliament, compared with 2.4% of MPs elected in 2021. According to the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability, 27% of Canadians aged 15 or older live with at least one disability that limits their daily activities. However, we have been unable to find figures on their representation.

So why am I undertaking this bill?

Colleagues, getting more women elected to public office has been an abiding goal for me for over three decades. When I just started my polling profession back in 1988, I joined a group of women called the Committee for ’94. Our goal was that half of the House of Commons would be women by 1994. What a goal that was. That group folded in utter frustration after a few years because of the lack of progress.

In 2001, about 40 women of all political stripes met in my living room to try it again; thus, we founded Equal Voice, which is devoted to electing more women to all levels of government and is determinedly multi-partisan. I am very proud that Equal Voice thrives to this very day, and many in this chamber know and support the organization and its goals.

Since I was appointed to the Senate in 2018, and drawing upon my work as a founder and former national chair of Equal Voice, I have been determined to find a way for Parliament to address the poor representation of women. Increasing the diversity of the House of Commons in all respects is an important goal, and statute law will deliver a clear message of its importance.

I am also motivated by the desire to improve and enhance our democratic institutions in these troubling times when the world is facing threats not seen since the Second World War. Building a Parliament that better reflects all Canadians will improve outcomes and decision making and will build trust in our democratic institutions.

This subject matter is entirely appropriate for a Senate public bill. I have said many times before that the Senate has not only the right but also the responsibility to deliberate and to show leadership on all aspects of our democracy and our democratic institutions.

Bill S-283 has two main parts. The first is about data collection and reporting by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada of demographic information about electoral participants, including candidates, those in nomination contests and leadership contestants. The second part is about disclosure of action plans by major political parties registered under the Canada Elections Act on steps being taken to increase diversity in the selection of candidates, including targets and timetables for women.

This bill is based on recommendations to Parliament from two parliamentary bodies: the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada and the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

Let me begin with data collection. A constant theme that I have heard in this chamber since arriving here almost six years ago is a call for better and more data to assess our progress in so many areas. When it comes to Parliament, the call for better data comes from this country’s top election official. In his report to Parliament in June 2022 on the forty-third and forty-fourth general elections, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, stated:

There can be little doubt about the value of working toward a Parliament that reflects the true diversity of Canadian society; but that work must start with high-quality information, not only about members of the House but about all participants in the electoral ecosystem.

Recommendation 9.4.1 of his report states:

To further progress toward a more inclusive and representative electoral system, a new legislative mandate should be included in the Act to allow Elections Canada to collect, on a voluntary basis, and make publicly available anonymized demographic data about electoral participants, including gender, ethnic origin, age, Indigenous status and disability.

Mr. Perrault has stated clearly that he does not currently have the statutory authority under the Canada Elections Act to collect this important demographic information about candidates and other electoral participants, and he is asking for this mandate. Bill S-283 will give him this mandate.

I note that a similar recommendation concerning the need for better data was made by the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women. That committee, chaired by Member of Parliament Karen Vecchio, undertook a significant study of the barriers and opportunities to advance for women in electoral politics in this country and reported its findings in its April 2019 report, titled Elect Her: A Roadmap for Improving the Representation of Women in Canadian Politics. Among its recommendations is Recommendation 11:

That the Government of Canada consider making changes to allow, with candidates’ permission, the collection of intersectional data on candidates in nomination races, including data on gender identity.

That recommendation is coming from two sources.

The second part of Bill S-283 requires major political parties registered under the Canada Elections Act to tell Canadians what actions they are taking to increase diversity in the selection of candidates, including their targets and timetables for women candidates.

This part of the bill also draws upon the recommendations from the Standing Committee on the Status of Women report.

Recommendation 8 from that report states in part:

That the Government of Canada consider making changes to encourage gender equality and diversity in electoral politics . . . and to require registered parties to publicly report on their efforts to recruit female candidates from diverse backgrounds after every federal general election.

Recommendation 9 from that report states in part:

That the Government of Canada encourage registered parties and registered electoral district associations to set goals and publicly report on their efforts to nominate more female candidates . . . and to establish search committees for candidates in federal general elections and by-elections.

Colleagues, I take confidence in the two sources of these recommendations, namely, the Chief Electoral Officer and the standing committee report. I trust you also take confidence from these sources — and the expertise, experience and study behind them.

In drafting Bill S-283, I have purposely drawn on established Canadian legislation and practice designed to track and to increase diversity in this country, including the Employment Equity Act and the Canada Business Corporations Act.

First, to establish the scope of the bill, I have incorporated the definition of “designated groups” from the Employment Equity Act into proposed section 1 of the bill. The collection of demographic information by the Chief Electoral Officer from electoral participants and the reporting on action plans by parties is intended to be inclusive. It must be done for at least the four “designated groups,” which in the Employment Equity Act are currently women, people with disabilities, visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples — modified in use as “Indigenous peoples.” The Chief Electoral Officer and political parties may choose, if they wish, to include other groups as well.

Any changes to the definition of “designated groups” arising from the work of the Employment Equity Review Task Force are intended to —