Trudeau's cabinet gender quota spurs debate over choosing freely
Was our new Prime Minister restricted by his campaign promise of a 50-50 gender split in cabinet? If he hadn't made that pledge would he have been able to find fifteen truly capable Men? The new cabinet offered up more than one historic moment and may have shattered more than one assumption.
"Because it's 2015."
And the times, they are -- it seems -- a changing. Soon after being sworn in as prime minister yesterday, Justin Trudeau revealed his first cabinet.
As promised, half the new ministers are women. And as may have been inevitable, much chatter ensued about gender, and merit, and whether his move for parity is right, or fair.
In his own words, Trudeau presented, "a cabinet that looks like Canada."
The 50-50 gender mix is our focus today.
- Nancy Peckford is the national spokesperson for equal voice in Ottawa.
- Janet Ecker is the President of Toronto Financial Services Alliance, and a former Ontario Minister of Finance under the Progressive Conservatives.
- Sherry Cooper is Chief Economist at Dominion Lending Centres.
- Farah Mohamed is founder and President of girls 20.
This segment was produced by The Current's Sujata Berry and Lara O'Brien.