Tag: Incentive

A House of Commons committee is making a cross-party call for the federal government to offer financial incentives to political parties that nominate more women candidates to run for election. "Despite their growing political participation, women represent just 35 per cent of all legislators in Canada and remain under-represented at all levels of government," the report said. "Increasing women's participation in electoral politics is essential for achieving greater gender equality. Having more women in elected office is about more than achieving equality in a traditionally male-dominated field — it could also have significant effects on public policy." One potential fix, the committee says, would be to offer cash incentives, such as subsidies, to encourage parties to help more women get nominated and then elected. The federal per-vote subsidy was eliminated in 2015. But the rules and processes associated with nomination and election campaigns can be complicated, and decision-making within parties was described by some as "opaque." The committee said Ottawa should also consider encouraging parties to set voluntary quotas for how many female candidates they plan to field and publicly report on efforts to recruit female candidates after every general election. Other recommendations include a call for publicly funded education campaigns and training to counter the negative effects of gender-based harassment of female politicians, both in traditional and social media. The MPs who worked on the report plan to ask to another Commons committee, which studies electoral issues, to consider looking into ways to eliminate gender bias in the design of voting ballots.

The Peace tower is reflected in a window in Ottawa, Tuesday March 26, 2019. A House of Commons committee says government should offer financial incentives to political parties that nominate more women candidates to run for election. This is one of 14 recommendations of the status of women committee, which studied the ongoing under-representation of women in politics. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA — A House of Commons committee says the government should offer financial incentives to political parties to nominate more women candidates to run for election. This is one of 14 recommendations of the status of women committee, which studied the ongoing under-representation of women in politics. Despite being active in their communities, women represent just 35 per cent of all legislators in Canada, according to Statistics Canada. The committee suggests political parties should be working harder to get more women to run by eliminating sexism and biases that might be built into their recruitment efforts. One potential fix would be to offer cash incentives, such as subsidies or weighted formulas for public financing to encourage parties to help more women to get nominated and then elected. The committee also says government should consider requiring political parties to publicly report on their efforts to recruit female candidates after every general election and should also encourage them to set voluntary quotas for how many female candidates they plan to field.

But don’t bet this change will bring about a better functioning Congress. If the recent history of wave elections is any guide, the moderates in swing districts will be the first swept away, leaving mostly passionate partisans and hard-left or hard-right politicians from safely gerrymandered districts. Our broken political incentives are the crux of these problems. Even in a swing year, the general election is a forgone conclusion in these one-party districts, and the real contests are low-turnout primaries dominated by the most passionately partisan voters. A politician who wants to win these primaries must appeal to the voters on the extreme fringes to protect their flanks. The fractured media landscape and liberal and conservative media “echo chambers” have also contributed to the increased polarization of our politics. Meanwhile, the phenomenon of “fake news” has shaken the public’s faith even in a set of common facts, the bedrock of reasoned debate. We will focus on reforming the incentives in U.S. politics that currently drive our leaders to favor partisan point scoring, personal attacks, and all-or-nothing posturing over reasoned debate and finding real solutions to our nation’s daunting challenges. Many are proposing practical solutions. Like many past efforts, states are often serving as the critical laboratories of democracy.