David Coon, MLA/Député

Adam Huras

“That’s a standing policy of the Green Party,” Coon said, stating the party’s slate of candidates is to reflect the makeup of society.

The Greens fielded 22 women out of a total of 46 candidates in 2014.

“People bring their experiences to the table and women experience life differently than how men experience life,” Coon said. “It’s important to have both perspectives.”

Premier Brian Gallant says the provincial Liberal party won’t commit to seeing females make up half their slate of candidates in the upcoming 2018 election, but will aim to increase the number of woman to seek nominations.

Photo: Adam Huras/Telegraph-Journal

Premier Brian Gallant says the provincial Liberal party won’t commit to seeing females make up half their slate of candidates in the upcoming 2018 election, suggesting against the use of “quotas” to ensure more women enter into politics.

Gallant, who named himself minister responsible for women’s equality shortly after forming government in 2014, says his party will do whatever it can to see more females on the ballot in the next election, but believes riding associations need the opportunity to select their own candidate.

The Progressive Conservatives also pointed to its constitution on Wednesday that calls for the election of its candidates through a democratic process.

The People’s Alliance says it wants the best qualified candidates, male or female.

Meanwhile, Green Party Leader David Coon says party policy calls for its slate of candidates to reflect the makeup of the province’s population which is a split of men and women.

The province’s New Democrats believe they could also hit the 50 per cent threshold.

The words come after the launch of a new push by current and former politicians, business owners, community organizers and philanthropists to get more women into New Brunswick politics.

New Brunswick currently has the second lowest percentage of female MLAs in the country.

Women currently make up about 16 per cent of the legislative assembly.

The group, “Women for 50%”, says it has a goal to see females make up half the slate of candidates that each party fields in the upcoming 2018 election, with a longer-term goal to have parity inside the legislative assembly by 2022.

Gallant has made a point to see that at least half of appointments that the provincial government has made to agencies, boards and commissions since his election were women.

But he said on Wednesday that the selection of candidates must be done democratically by party members, suggesting men can’t be excluded from that process.

“The way that candidates are chosen, it’s members of the Liberal party in each riding that will vote and choose their candidate,” he said. “We’re going to do whatever we can, but we won’t be able to commit to a quota.

“We, as a party, have done everything we can think of in the last election, we’re going to try to do more in the upcoming election to have more women run for nominations and hopefully ultimately win those nominations and then hopefully win the seats and become MLAs.”

The Liberal party did pass a resolution in advance of the last election to ensure representation by women that allowed Gallant to appoint up to three women candidates in ridings where “no other contestants for nomination had received a green light.”

Gallant said on Wednesday that he will again ask the party for that power, although cautioning against the practice.

“We have to understand that it comes at the cost of not necessarily allowing a riding association candidate to choose who their candidate would be,” Gallant said. “We should be careful with quotas.

“Quotas can be good, but the real goal, I think, is to not have 50 per cent of our candidates be women, but to have a lot more women that become our candidates, but ultimately become MLAs and get into positions of influence. So that has to be the ultimate goal.”

Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs said in an emailed statement on Wednesday that the party’s candidates are nominated through a democratic process as outlined in its constitution.

“We are actively seeking more women to become involved in our party,” he said. “My goal is to build a far-reaching coalition of New Brunswickers who want to fix our province in a sustainable way.

“It is my hope that our message will resonate with all New Brunswickers and will compel women to seek the Progressive Conservative nomination in all 49 ridings.”

People’s Alliance Leader Kris Austin says the best qualified candidates should be selected, regardless if they are men or women.

“That’s not something we’re going to commit to,” Austin said about the question of running a slate of candidates that are at least 50 per cent female. “We don’t discriminate based on gender, race, language, etcetera, we just simply pick the best quality people.

“We’re not going to put any particular policies in place to try to push toward any area like that.”

Austin said he doesn’t know if women are underrepresented in politics or whether there are barriers that stand in the way of females entering political life that men don’t face.

“I see females in public office,” he said. “I don’t know, I really haven’t done the research on it, so it’s hard for me to really say one way or the other.

“But I think it should boil down to the best qualified and I think we need to not get caught up in what that should look like.”

Meanwhile, other parties believe they can make a commitment of 50 per cent.

“That’s a standing policy of the Green Party,” Coon said, stating the party’s slate of candidates is to reflect the makeup of society.

The Greens fielded 22 women out of a total of 46 candidates in 2014.

“People bring their experiences to the table and women experience life differently than how men experience life,” Coon said. “It’s important to have both perspectives.”

“I think it will be a fairly easy step for the NDP,” said Kelly Lamrock, acting executive director of the New Brunswick NDP, noting the party had women run under the party banner in more than 30 per cent of ridings in 2014.

Lamrock added that the party is currently without a permanent leader and it would be their responsibility to sign nomination papers.

“The real challenge is to make sure you’re not only putting female names on the ballot because lots of parties can do that in ridings where they may not necessarily have a chance of getting elected,” Lamrock said. “It’s also making it the kind of priority that actually sees the party committed.”

-With files from Adam Bowie