White, older men dominate the #nlpoli landscape. Why isn't there more diversity?
'The more we limit ourselves … it's just not helpful. We need more people from diverse backgrounds'
Want fewer old white men in suits and ties on the ballot? Sticking to a fixed election date could help that, argues one St. John's lawyer.
"I'm not surprised and I'm certainly disappointed," said Caitlin Urquhart, a lawyer and local activist.
Imagine all the amazing candidates - especially women and other marginalized folks - who didn’t run in this election because of the rushed timing. We need fixed election dates so good people can choose to run, have time, and create a plan to make it happen. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nlpoli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nlpoli</a>
—@zzzarenAs political watchers will tell you, a spring election was one of the worst-kept secrets in the province.
But Urquhart, who is chair of the Canadian Bar Association-Newfoundland and Labrador's Women Lawyers Forum and worked on St. John's City Coun. Maggie Burton's campaign, argues there's a big difference between knowing a writ drop is coming and knowing for sure in order to get the ducks in a row necessary for a political run.
"How do you manage your workload? For me, if I was interested, I might have to be in court during parts of the campaign. I may have cases or workloads that I can't shift around. I may have child-care obligations that I'm unable to, on short notice, to rearrange," she told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show, noting many others would face the same issues.
"So one of the benefits of having a election that has a fixed date is you can really plan for that, right? You can really work your life around having those weeks available to campaign and then potentially having to leave the workforce if you're successful."
Urquhart said a fixed date also helps political hopefuls know when they need their signatures and accompanying $200 fee as part of the official nomination process, and recruit campaign staff, who could also be prepared.
Fewer women on the ballot
Urquhart said the current provincial election campaign isn't the first, nor will it likely be the last, with a generally low number of female candidates.
In the 2019 election, there are 28 females are on the ballot, compared with 35 in 2015.
Urquhart herself doesn't mince words when it comes to at least part of the reason she thinks some are staying away from vying for a seat in the House of Assembly.
"I'm not sure that anyone could pay me enough to do that job. You take a lot of beatings, you know, from the public and and obviously also within the House, which … no one wants to work in a toxic workplace," she said, referencing the allegations of bullying and harassment against several MHAs that swept through the legislature last spring.
Why the NDP is partly to blame
Why women don't run for political office as much as men is a discussion that could occupy hours of discussion and a topic that doesn't have an easy consensus, Melissa Royle said blunty.
Royle is a lawyer and chair of the N.L. chapter of Equal Voice, an organization dedicated to getting more women elected into political office.
She, like Urquhart, is troubled that there are fewer women on the ballot compared with four years ago, and points out part of the reason is the NDP.
In 2015, 18 women were part of the full slate of 40 candidates the NDP offered to voters.
Contrast that with now, when just six women have thrown their hats into the political ring for the NDP.
"I'm not using the word 'blame' because I celebrate the fact that the NDP ran significantly more women than the other two parties did in the last election, but where they're not filling a full slate this time, I think that's really impacted the numbers," Royle told CBC Radio's On the Go.
She noted that the PCs and Liberals do have more female candidates for this election than they did in the last one — but there are more male Independents and members of the NL Alliance that are running.
'Don't we just want the best people?'
But why should people care who is and isn't on the ballot (when it comes to a candidate's gender and race?)
Urquhart said it's about busting social constructs that equate the most electable candidate, which "whether we intend to or not, that tends to be an older white man. And so businessmen, usually someone in a suit and tie."
"Part of why we need diversity is because there's so many different portfolios, there's so many different lived experiences across the province and we … want those represented in the House," she said.
Royle said a familiar response accompanies the topic of women in politics.
"[It always] brings up this question of. you know. 'Don't we just want the best people? Don't we just want the best people?' Well, do you know what? I do too. I think that all of us want the best 40 people in the House," she said.
"But the more we limit ourselves — whether it's the best 40, you know, old white lawyers, men … it's just not helpful. We need more people from diverse backgrounds … and if more people from those diverse backgrounds put their names on ballots, hopefully we'll have a more representative House of Assembly."
With files from The St. John's Morning Show and On The Go