Stephane Dion has promised to do whatever it takes to make sure that there are more women running for office for the Liberal Party. That will include reserving one third of the ridings only for women candidates:
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has promised that at least a third of the party's 308 candidates in the next election will be female.
Running for office is not the same as wielding political power. You still have to win. How many of these gyno-ridings are going to be winnable? How many Y-chromosome Liberals in safe Liberal ridings are going to step aside for a female candidate just because she's a woman?
We can already see the likelihood that there will more female MPs, and so more women in cabinet, is not increased.
There is the problem of finding safe ridings for Dion's former leadership opponents.
There is Gerard Kennedy:
In the same week Stephane Dion was announcing his pledge to have women play a greater role in his caucus, one of his star male candidates - Gerard Kennedy - was pushing aside prospective female candidates for the exclusive right to run in the Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park.
Prior to the January 2003 federal election, the riding was held by Liberal Sarmite Bulte, who lost to NDP candidate Peggy Nash.
Ms. Bulte had every intention of running in the next federal election, but stepped aside because she felt Mr. Kennedy had a better chance to win the riding back.
If Mr. Kennedy takes the riding from Ms. Nash, he will deprive Parliament of another female representative.
And then there is Bob Rae:
Rae can do for Dion what Sheila Copps and Lloyd Axworthy did for Jean Chretien, namely, reassure progressives about the Liberal party's reform credentials.
Stephane Dion should be moving heaven and earth to ensure that Rae has his pick of winnable seats and that everything that could be done will be done, to encourage Rae to continue his career of public service.
So unless Bob Rae and Gerard Kennedy undergo sex reassignment, two safe ridings are going to be off limits for female candidates.
Make that four ridings off limits -- we should also include Etobicoke-Lakeshore and Saint-Laurent–Cartierville, the ridings of Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion, respectively.
Oh yes, and one less female MP, as Kennedy bumps Bulte.
So Stephane Dion can make his promise to run more female candidates, but as long as safe Liberal ridings are offered up to the boys first, this promise won't amount to much. These new candidates will go down in flames against incumbent Conservative, NDP, or Bloc MPs -- incumbents of either gender, by the way.
Typical Liberal promise -- looks good on paper, doesn't amount to much, and certainly doesn't inconvenience anyone important to the Liberal Party.
