More gender diversity needed on board of N.L. Hydro, activist says

The new board of directors for Nalcor subsidiary Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro was announced last week — and one thing immediately stood out to Jenny Wright.

The director of the St. John's Status of Women Council was disappointed to again see women mostly shut out of prestigious announcements in the province — this time, for a board with a major Crown corporation.

"Time and time and time again when we see lucrative appointments, they are becoming all-male appointments," said Wright.

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Of the 10 people announced to the board overseeing N.L. Hydro, six of whom are new to the position, only one is a woman.

That's not good enough for a Crown corporation, she says, especially one that has a policy in place to ensure a board that better reflects the makeup of the province.

"Nalcor, to which Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro is a subsidiary of, has a gender diversity policy," said Wright. "We know that because we helped work on it."

Nalcor does have such a policy but when appointments are made, ability comes first, said former premier Clyde Wells, chair of the province's Independent Appointments Commission (IAC).

"When you think in terms of the potential impact of the Hydro Corporation and Nalcor on the future of this province, those appointed will face very significant challenges and have to be able to meet those challenges," said Wells.

The IAC submitted a list of 16 people for consideration for the hydro board, he said. Two of those 16 were women.

That's an approach that goes against current research about successful boards, and isn't helpful at a time when both the province, and Nalcor specifically, are facing particular challenges, Wright said.

"Research shows us that diversity on boards, agencies and government is better for outcomes," she said.

Female directors should have been recruited more proactively, she said, going outside the pool of applicants if necessary — something the IAC is allowed to do to fill board seats.

Research supports board diversity

Some jurisdictions have taken specific steps to ensure lucrative and powerful positions like board seats are filled with diversity in mind. In 2005, Norway introduced a gender quota for companies listed on a stock exchange, and in 2013 the EU approved a proposal that all listed companies should increase the number of women on their boards.

"We are not going to be able to move past the kind of really suppressed and worrisome economic situation we're in now if we're not going where the research is," Wright said.

As leader of the opposition, now-Premier Dwight Ball questioned the decision-making behind past board appointments. And Wright pointed out that Bill 1, which aimed to reduce political patronage in appointments and led to the creation of the Independent Appointments Commission, was one of the first acts of the Liberal government after the last election.

• Liberals' first legislation aimed at removing politics from apointments

Wright says her organization was vocal about the need to enshrine diversity within that bill, but the government instead opted for a merit-based system. Such a system simply maintains the status quo, she said, which isn't good enough for an organization with significant challenges ahead.

Four seats remain open

But the gender disparity on the hydro board wasn't unnoticed by the government, said Siobhan Coady, who is the minister of both natural resources and status of women.

"Certainly we were concerned when we were making the appointments to the board that there was only one female," said Coady.

Legislation allows for 14 total appointments to the board. Coady said the commission is now looking for women who could potentially fill the remaining spots, at the government's request.

"We've left room and hopefully we can recruit women to that particular board."

Getting to the point where such direction is not needed to ensure board diversity requires changing human resources policies and actively recruiting female candidates instead of relying on applications, Wright said.

"It's not saying that the men that are on that board are not skilled men, that they're not assets to the province. That's not what we're saying," she said.

"They may very well be the best men for the job, but are they the best people for the job?"

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