In a recent post on the Samara blog we highlighted the point made by public affairs consultant Robin Sears that riding associations offer a key point of entry for citizens to not only get involved in the political process, but to ultimately exercise power within it.
Speaking as a panellist at the DiverseCity Post-Election Update, held Tuesday November 8th, Sears acknowledged that while several “push” factors work to facilitate citizens' engagement in politics, there is a host of “pull” factors that simultaneously deter everyday Canadians from making the leap into political life.
"The challenge for parties is to convey to those skeptical of politics that [political leadership] is an honourable profession in Canada," he said.
Perceptions about politics, however, only represent part of the problem, according to a new study conducted by Ryerson University’s Myer Siemiatycki on behalf of DiverseCity’s Greater Toronto Leadership Project.
The Diversity Gap: The Electoral Under-Representation of Visible Minorities, presented at the DiverseCity event, examined the diversity of those who ran as candidates and those elected in recent federal, provincial and municipal elections in the GTA. It found that while visible minorities comprise 40% of the GTA population, only 11% of those elected for office are visible minorities.
While Sears and his co-panelists, StrategyCorp’s John Matheson and former Halton MPP candidate Indira Naidoo-Harris, noted the positive strides taken towards diversifying the ethnic make-up of Canada’s political leadership over the last decade, for Siemiatycki, the question remains whether there has been sufficient change relative to visible minorities’ demographic share of the population.
“There is a large discrepancy between who governs and who is governed in the GTA.” As a symbolic reflection of the “face” of our society and an indicator of the distribution of influence and power within it, political leadership is a measure of inclusion that has important implications for the lived experiences of Canadians, both new and established.
The report shows notable variations across different visible minority groups, geographic regions, and levels of government. For example, visible minorities are more successful as candidates and elected officials in the suburbs than in the city centre. In terms of representation in government, visible minorities fare best provincially, accounting for 26% of MPPs, whereas federally they constitute 17% of all MPs. A mere 7% of the municipal council members in the GTA are visible minorities.
The last of these figures underpin one of Siemiatycki’s central concerns: What are the systemic barriers – or “pull” factors as Sears calls them – that keep visible minorities out of positions of power in municipal government, and what implications does this have for their participation in federal politics?
For Matheson, there are two clear explanations: incumbency and ward size. “Put yourself in the shoes of someone who would run,” he said. For many new Canadians who are still working to establish themselves both socially and financially, “assaulting the bastion of incumbency” is simply not a realistic option. Without name recognition or a network of supporters – let alone the backing of a political party – running for elected office can be “daunting task.”
It’s also a personal financial risk, added Matheson - nominations and candidacy races require a “economic capacity to participate.”
Naidoo-Harris, herself a visible minority and former MPP candidate, agreed with Matheson’s assertions, saying “once you get established, it’s not easy [or] attractive to give that up in order run.” But she also noted that while such obstacles may be acutely felt by some new Canadians, there is the persistent and underlying issue of how Canadians in general view politics. “If we want to attract quality candidates, we need to have trust and respect for the role.”
The Diversity Gap recommends that municipalities “be proactive in promoting civic engagement across diverse communities,” because the lack of political parties and the force of incumbency make diverse representation harder to achieve.
Why should this be made a priority? Because diverse representation isn’t simply about fairness. As Siemiatycki argues, greater diversity among the citizens who are chosen to represent us brings more perspectives to decision-making, increases the public’s trust in institutions and inspires all citizens that they can serve as political leaders. Torontonians, Ontarians and Canadians all have an interest in closing the gap.
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Siemiatycki, Myer. "The Diversity Gap: The Electoral Under-Representation of Visible Minorities." commissioned by DiverseCity: The Greater Toronto Leadership Project as part of its DiverseCity Counts research series. 2011.