Democratic deficit is a popular term, even if the passing of Paul Martin from the political stage has substantially reduced the number of times we were bombarded by the concept via the national media. Many people identify this problem with our “first past the post” electoral system, in which parties like the NDP and the Greens can capture substaintial portions of the popular vote and then not be rewarded with the corresponding number of seats in Parliament. Certainly, the question of which electoral system is most just and appropriate for Canada is an important one, but focusing all of our energies battling the democratic deficit in this regard ignores another important element of the problem.

Women make up better than 50 per cent of the population in Canada, but then form less than one-quarter of all representatives in the House of Commons. The figures do not improve much at the provincial or municipal levels. In Alberta, the first provincial jurisdiction to extend the franchise to women, just 14.4 per cent of MLAs are female.

How can this situation be rectified? Some commentators believe that a legislated percentage of all candidates for each party should be women, or that a certain percentage of seats be preserved for female representatives alone. That’s the approach that’s been taken in other parts of the world, such as Tanzania. It’s somewhat ironic that the partnership program between the Municipality of Jasper and Mbeya was based on the concept of empowering women, when in fact a far greater percentage of local and national government representatives are female in the developing African country than here at home.

At the federal level, there seems at long last to be a politician who is willing to respond to the calls for improved gender equality. Stephane Dion, one of a cast of thousands running for the Liberal Party leadership, said earlier this month that he would institute a minimum number of female Liberal candidates for every election. In certain cases, that would involve overruling a local party association and replacing a nominated candidate with a handpicked one. This is a measure some decry, but if parties are willing to use that power to benefit people such as Michael Ignatieff, why not extend it to a worthy effort such as this one?

Still, what Dion proposes may not be enough. Green Party leadership candidate Elizabeth May is an example of how certain structural aspects of federal electoral politics can hold excellent female candidates back. In order to run for the leadership, May had to quit her job with the Sierra Club. She is a single mother and is currrently surviving on a loan from a credit union. Should she fail to win the race she’s embroiled in, she can’t guarantee she’ll be able to run in the next federal election. After all, she’ll need to get a job, and that could prevent her from having the time to run. What a loss that would be for all Canadians. Surely something could be done, whether it be more aggressive limits on campaign expenditures or perhaps the creation of a national electoral fund accessible to female and other underrepresented candidates.