49 of 93 MLAs elected in the 2024 election are women.
The B.C. The legislature has become the first provincially or federally elected house to be majority-female, with 49 MLAs identifying as female following the 2024 election.
The 49 MLAs represent 52.7 percent of the 93-seat house, with 31 female MLAs from the B.C. NDP and 18 from the B.C. Conservatives. It’s the first time that’s happened at the provincial or federal level in Canadian history, according to advocacy organization Equal Voice.
The Quebec National Assembly came closest during the previous election, with women representing 46 percent of that chamber. Female MPs make up 31 percent of the federal House of Commons, according to Statistics Canada. News of the majority-female legislature has drawn praise from an advocate and a former cabinet minister, who both said they hoped the policies that result will be more representative of the population at large. “I think you’re seeing now that people are less likely to evaluate whether a candidate is a man or a woman and simply ask themselves, ‘Are they a good candidate?’ And that’s a real positive thing,” said Mary Polak, a former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister. Record number of women elected in Northwest Territories
Holt’s historic N.B. win also sees a record number of women, several francophones elected Polak, who was first elected in 2005 and served until 2020, said it had been a “long, long path to get here,” with women representing 43 percent of the province’s MLAs in the previous legislature.
“If you look back on previous elections, there have been elections where we had large, large numbers of women who were nominated by parties and weren’t able to achieve success in the general election,” she told Amy Bell, guest host of CBC’s On The Coast. “So it’s encouraging that voters are doing that. It’s encouraging that the efforts that started years and years ago have actually made a difference in recruitment.”
Elected MLAs after 2024 B.C.
Political Party Female Male Total
B.C. Green Party -0 – 2 – 2
B.C. NDP 31 16 47
B.C. Conservative Party 18 26 44
Total M & F 49 44 93
Source: cbc.ca/news
