Men occupy 80% of the seats in the Canadian House of Commons, women only 20%. Yet there are more females than males in the Canadian population.

"We want more women candidates!"

"We are dedicated to recruiting more women candidates!"

We are well aware of the mantra chanted so solemnly, if not sanctimoniously, by the political parties.

But has anyone really listened to it? What is it they are saying? "We want" what? "We are dedicated" to what? More women candidates. Candidates!

There is many a slip 'twixt cup and lip. Being chosen a candidate is only a baby step on the road to being elected.

Harking back to an era when Ellen Fairclough became the first female to hold a seat in cabinet, it was a time when the male dominated parties in Parliament looked upon the widows of Members as the most likely candidates to win the the seats held by their deceased husbands and, by extension, retain those seats for their political parties.

Many an aspiring female candidate was recruited to contest an unwinnable seat in a constituency given to electing members of an opposing party. Candidate fodder to bloat the statistics of political manipulators, they ran, they lost, and were forgotten.

A few managed to make their mark in their own right. The incomparable, feisty Grace MacInnis, and the much maligned Judy Lamarch, the butt of every politically incorrect joke imaginable, were two who left a lasting legacy to those following, among them Monique Bégin, Flora MacDonald, Judy Erola, and Sheila Copps.

Hell, they even were powerful enough to get women's washrooms constructed in the Parliament Buildings for women M.P.s and Senators. The male groaning of the time still resonates in memory.

But the fact remains that only 20% of the seats in the Commons are occupied by women in the first years of the third millennium.

Under our present electoral system the dice are loaded against fair representation of females in Commons and Senate.

New Zealand, an erstwhile sister in the British Commonwealth, in recent years adopted the proportional voting system in General Elections, and the result was startling. The number of female representatives almost doubled.

Could the unthinkable happen in Canada also? One can already hear the groaning from the male dominated Canadian Commons.

If you want to voice your opinion, do so by accessing the Member of Parliament list, telling your M.P. or M.P.s what you want, and ask for a reply, not a mere acknowledgement. In this way you will bring the people to the government, as opposed to the top-down thinking of bringing the government to the people.

Since this is a web site linking Canada and Ireland, it should be noted that Canada's 20% female representation in the House of Commons compares favourably with a mere 13% in Dáil Éireann.

There is much room for improvement in both countries.

In New Zealand almost 30% of the seats in Parliament are held by women.