Over 20 ridings across Ontario have been selected by the Ontario Liberal Party as women-only candidate ridings, a move the party is undertaking to increase the number of female MPPs at Queen’s Park.
Guelph will be among these ridings, with the Liberals in Guelph having announced the nominated Raechelle Devereaux, the chief executive officer of the Guelph Community Health Centre, as their Ontario Liberal Party (OLP) candidate for the provincial election slated for 2022.
Devereaux was acclaimed as the local candidate for Guelph in August.
Devereaux said her understanding of the nomination process and acclaiming of the candidate for the Guelph riding was the party would have only accepted and embedded female applicants who show strong leadership and can contest the riding.
“While I was acclaimed, that doesn’t mean I was the only candidate,” said Devereaux. “There was likely, and I understand that there may have been at least two other applicants who may have been men.”
Devereaux said the Guelph riding never moved forward to a contest as it was selected as a women-only riding, and she was acclaimed because she was the only female candidate.
“One of my key values is equity, and we know that equity is a lot different than equality,” said Devereaux. “Equality is an outcome, and equity is an action to achieve equality, and so equity means efforts to level the playing field and recognizes inherently that the playing field is not equal.”
Devereaux said helping to eliminate the barriers the party has undertaken allows for further diversity to be achieved within the political landscape.
"When my daughter looks at the leaders of all government currently in Guelph, she doesn't see herself," Devereaux said, adding that all white male leadership is not reflective of the diversity of the community.
The move from the LPO aims to close the gender gap in the legislative assembly, with current figures placing 38 per cent of MPPs identifying as women.
An emailed statement from OLP’s campaign director Christine McMillan said: “Ontario Liberals are committed to gender parity in our team for 2022. In previous elections, all parties have treated gender parity as an aspirational goal, but under Steven Del Duca’s leadership, we are using real tools to make it a reality. So far, women-only designations have been used in more than 20 ridings to nominate a variety of strong female candidates. Steven is building the strong, diverse team needed to beat Doug Ford’s Conservatives and lead Ontario after the 2022 election."
Tamara A. Small, an associate professor in the department of political science at the University of Guelph said it is important about these decisions are not just about getting more women to run, but about getting more women to run where the party is competitive and can win.
“The Ontario Liberal Party is in a precarious situation at the moment, so in some ways, it is laudable that they are trying to ensure their slate is gender-balanced,” said Small.
She continued saying parties need to do this if we want to have a more diverse and more female representation in the legislative assembly.
In the nine elections since the formation of the Guelph provincial riding in 1987, a woman has been elected six times.
