Studying Representation and Equity-Seeking Candidates in Canadian Elections

Abstract

Every election, as Canadians sit down at the polls to cast their votes, they ask: how truly representative are our elected officials? And how can we make politicians more representative of the public? As part of the USSRF, I provided important data to answer these questions. I studied how the barriers to elected office differ among equity-seeking groups, including women, BIPOC, and 2SLGBTQ+ people, and how parties can increase their representativeness. This research falls in three streams: data collection on federal candidates, data collection on provincial candidates, and a literature review of the role of voluntary targets to increase diversity and representation in political parties. The research on federal candidates has gathered important data on candidate race, 2SLGBTQ+ identities, and political experience from archived candidate biographies and news sources. The research on provincial candidates uses similar sources to extend analyses based on federal politics to provincial politics. The literature review draws on international examples to explore the impact of voluntary targets for representation within parties. These targets have historically not been a focus of study because the presumption is that voluntary targets will not be effective, but there is evidence that they have been increasingly effective in Canadian federal and provincial parties. By assessing the factors contributing to the representativeness (or under representativeness) of our elected officials, the research builds the groundwork for future work that compares party and voter biases across under-represented groups. The research engages with public debates in popular news media, social media, and non-profit/citizen groups surrounding the representation of women, BIPOC, and 2SLGBTQ+ people. The implications of this research are tangible for people, especially those belonging to marginalized groups, because the way we relate to the systems of power that govern us are crucial in understanding relationships of trust between citizens and the state.