1 Hunter, Alfred A. and Denton, Margaret A., “Do Female Candidates ‘Lose Votes’? The Experience of Female Candidates in the 1979 and 1980 Canadian General Elections,” Canadian Journal of Sociology and Anthropology 23 (1984), 395–406Google Scholar; Brodie, Janine, Women and Politics in Canada (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1985Google Scholar); Brodie, Janine with the assistance of Chandler, Celia, “Women and the Electoral Process in Canada,” in Megyery, Kathy, ed., Women in Canadian Politics: Toward Equity in Representation (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1991), 3–59Google Scholar; Gotell, Lise and Brodie, Janine, “Women and Parties: More than an Issue of Numbers,” in Thorburn, Hugh G., ed., Party Politics in Canada (6th ed.; Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada, 1991), 53–67Google Scholar; Sylvia Bashevkin, “Women's Participation in Political Parties,” in Megyery, ed., Women in Canadian Politics, 61–79; Bashevkin, Sylvia, Toeing the Lines: Women and Party Politics in English Canada (2nd ed.; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993Google Scholar); Bashevkin, Sylvia, “Building a Political Voice: Women's Participation and Policy Influence in Canada,” in Nelson, Barbara J. and Chowdhury, Najma, eds., Women and Politics Worldwide (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), 142–60Google Scholar; Lisa Young, “Legislative Turnover and the Election of Women to the Canadian House of Commons,” in Megyery, ed., Women in Canadian Politics, 81–99; Lynda Erickson, “Women and Candidacies for the House of Commons,” in Ibid., 101–25; Erickson, Lynda, “Making Her Way In: Women, Parties, and Candidacies in Canada,” in Lovenduski, Joni and Norris, Pippa, eds., Gender and Party Politics (London: Sage, 1993), 60–85Google Scholar; and Studlar, Donley T. and Matland, Richard E., “The Growth of Women's Representation in the Canadian House of Commons and the Election of 1984: A Reappraisal,” this Journal 27 (1994), 53–79.Google Scholar

2 Brodie, M. Janine, “The Recruitment of Canadian Provincial Women Legislators, 1950–1975,” Atlantis 2 (1977), 6–17Google Scholar; Pelletier, Réjean and Tremblay, Manon, “Les femmes sont-elles candidates dans des circonscriptions perdues d'avance? De l'examen d'une croyance,” this Journal 25 (1992), 249–67Google Scholar; Moncrief, Gary F. and Thompson, Joel A., “Urban and Rural Ridings and Women in Provincial Politics: A Research Note on Female MLAs,” this Journal 24 (1991), 831–37Google Scholar; Domalgaski, Marilyn, “The Role of Canadian Women in Federal and Provincial Politics,” in Fleming, Robert J., ed., Canadian Legislatures: The 1986 Comparative Study (Toronto: Office of the Legislative Assembly, 1986), 39–43Google Scholar; and Bashevkin, Toeing the Lines, 76–92.

3 Smiley, Donald V., The Federal Condition in Canada (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1987Google Scholar); and Stevenson, Garth, ed., Federalism in Canada (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1989Google Scholar).

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5 The territorial governments of Yukon and the Northwest Territories are not considered here because their governing powers are less and their number of legislators are fewer (24 in Northwest Territories, 16 in Yukon).

6 Legislators in Ontario are called members of the provincial parliament (MPPs) and those in Quebec are referred to as members of the national assembly (MNAs).

7 Martinez, Michael D., “Partisan Reinforcement in Context and Cognition: Canadian Federal Partisanship, 1974–1979,” American Journal of Political Science 34 (1990), 822–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Clarke, Harold D., Jenson, Jane, LeDuc, Lawrence and Pammett, Jon H., Absent Mandate: Interpreting Change in Canadian Elections (Toronto: Gage, 1991Google Scholar).

8 Randall, Vicky, Women and Politics: An International Perspective (2nd ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987CrossRefGoogle Scholar), chap. 3; Pippa Norris, “Conclusions: Comparing Legislative Recruitment,” in Lovenduski and Norris, eds., Gender and Party Politics, 309–30; and Darcy, R., Welch, Susan and Clark, Janet, Women, Elections and Representation (2nd ed.; Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994), 74–78.Google Scholar

9 Young, “Legislative Turnover and the Election of Women”; Erickson, “Making Her Way In”; and Studlar and Matland, “The Growth of Women's Representation.”

10 Since some provincial elections occur in almost every year, the years of federal elections are chosen for federal/provincial comparisons. The one exception is 1979. There were federal elections in both 1979 and 1980. There were, however, no provincial elections in 1980. Since the only figure changing between 1979 and 1980 was the percentage of women at the federal level, which rose from 3.4 per cent to 5.0 per cent, 1979 is not included in Table 1.

11 Darcy, Welch and Clark, Women, Elections and Representation, chaps. 2 and 3.

12 Schlesinger, Joseph, “Political Careers and Party Leadership,” in Edinger, Lewis J., ed., Political Leadership in Industrialized Societies (New York: John Wiley, 1967), 266–93Google Scholar; Harder, V. Peter, “Career Patterns at the National and Sub-national Levels in the United States and Canada,” in Gaboury, Jean-Pierre and Hurley, James Ross, eds., The Canadian House of Commons Observed (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1979), 327–45Google Scholar; and Barrie, Doreen and Gibbins, Roger, “Parliamentary Careers in the Canadian Federal State,” this Journal 22 (1989), 137–45.Google Scholar

13 Schlesinger, “Political Careers and Political Leadership.”

14 Ibid.; and Harder, “Career Patterns.”

15 One of the explanations for the decreasing representation of women in higher levels in other countries is that power increases, and therefore the competition for office becomes much stiffer. But in Canada, federal/provincial power differentials are not that great; therefore there may be little difference in competition across levels.

16 Darcy, Welch and Clark, Women, Elections and Representation; Rule, Wilma, “Electoral Systems, Contextual Factors and Women's Opportunity for Election to Parliament in Twenty-Three Democracies,” Western Political Quarterly 40 (1987), 477–98CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Norris, “Conclusions: Comparing Legislative Recruitment,” 309–30; and Welch, Susan and Studlar, Donley T., “Multi-member Districts and the Representation of Women: Evidence from Britain and the United States,” Journal of Politics 52 (1990), 391–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

17 Franks, C. E. S., The Parliament of Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987), 73–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Young, “Legislative Turnover and the Election of Women,” 89–96; and Matland, Richard E. and Studlar, Donley T., “Turnover Patterns and Explanations of Turnover in Parliamentary Democracies,” paper presented at the European Consortium for Political Research, Bordeaux, 1995.Google Scholar

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19 Laponce, Jean A., “Democracy and Incumbency: The Canadian Case,” in Somit, Albert, Wildemann, Rudolf, Boll, Bernhard and Rommele, Andrea, eds., The Victorious Incumbent: A Challenge to Democracy? (Brookfield, Vt.: Dartmouth, 1994), 122–49.Google Scholar

20 Moncrief, “Professionalism and Careerism”; and Moncrief, “Turnover in Canadian Provincial Legislatures.”

21 See Bashevkin, Toeing the Lines, chap. 4; and Erickson, “Making Her Way In.”

22 Hunter and Denton, “Do Female Candidates ‘Lose Votes'?”; Brodie, Women and Politics in Canada, 106–19; Bashevkin, Toeing the Lines, 84–85, 155; and Brodie with Chandler, “Women and the Electoral Process in Canada,” 33.

23 Studlar and Matland, “The Growth of Women's Representation”; and Pelletier and Tremblay, “Les femmes sont-elles candidates dans des circonscriptions perdues d'avance?”

24 Brodie, “The Recruitment of Canadian Provincial Women Legislators,” 8–10; Brodie, Women and Politics in Canada, 2–3; also Trimble, Linda, “The Politics of Gender in Modern Alberta,” in Tupper, Allan and Gibbins, Roger, eds., Government and Politics in Alberta (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1992), 219–45.Google Scholar

25 While Table 1 shows western Canada tends to be a leader, the differences are small, and when difference of proportions tests were done comparing the level of representation in western Canada with the rest of Canada, the difference was not statistically significant for any period.

26 Moncrief, “Turnover in Canadian Provincial Legislatures.”

27 Dyck, Provincial Politics in Canada, 6; S. J. R. Noel, “Leadership and Clientelism,” in Bellamy, David J., Pammett, Jon H. and Rowat, Donald C., eds., The Provincial Political Systems: Comparative Essays (Toronto: Methuen, 1976), 197–213Google Scholar; Stewart, Ian, Roasting Chestnuts: The Myth of Maritime Political Culture (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1994Google Scholar), chap. 5; and Adamson, Agar and Stewart, Ian, “Party Politics in Atlantic Canada: Still the Mysterious East?” in Thorburn, Hugh G., ed., Party Politics in Transition (6th ed.; Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada, 1991), 507–21.Google Scholar

28 Brodie, “The Recruitment of Canadian Women Provincial Legislators,” 8–9; and Adamson and Stewart, “Party Politics in Atlantic Canada,” 515.

29 Matland, Richard E. and Brown, Deborah D., “District Magnitude's Effect on Female Representation in State Legislatures,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 17 (1992), 469–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Engstrom, Richard, “District Magnitudes and the Election of Women to the Irish Dial,” Electoral Studies 6 (1987), 123–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Matland, Richard E., “Institutional Variables Affecting Female Representation in National Legislatures: The Case of Norway,” Journal of Politics 55 (1993), 737–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Mark A. Jones, “Increasing Women's Representation via Gender Quotas: The Argentine Ley de Cupos,” Women and Politics (forthcoming).

30 In any given year, only a few provinces hold elections. In some years there is only one or no provincial election. The three-year rolling averages give a better idea of general trends since they encompass elections in six to nine provinces (see Appendix for details). Three-year averages, however, do not encompass all provinces since some will only have elections every fourth or fifth year. Other provinces can have more than one election within a three-year period. While individual year data are only presented from 1975 forward, data from 1973 and 1974 have been used in calculations of the 1975 and 1976 three-year averages.

31 Matland, Richard E. and Studlar, Donley T., “The Contagion of Women Candidates in Single-Member District and Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Canada and Norway,” Journal of Politics 58 (1996CrossRefGoogle Scholar), forthcoming.

32 Data on regional and minor parties, principally Social Credit in British Columbia and the Parti Québécois in Quebec, are not presented in the tables for reasons of space. Full results are available from the authors on request.

33 These numbers do not include all candidates for other parties. We only considered candidates for other parties who polled at least 5 per cent of the vote in the riding.

34 In the 20-year period being considered, there were 47 provincial elections and only 31 independent and other party representatives elected. This is less than one representative per election. We believe the data are too weak to be able to say anything meaningful about these cases.

35 Bernstein, Robert A., “Why Are There So Few Women in the House?” Western Political Quarterly 39 (1986), 155–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar This has been challenged by Burrell, Barbara, “Women Candidates in Open-Seat Primaries for the US House: 1968–1990,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 17 (1992), 493–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36 Berch, Neil, “The ‘Year of the Woman' in Context: A Test of Six Explanations,” American Politics Quarterly 24 (1996), 169–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Young, “Legislative Turnover and the Election of Women”; and Studlar and Matland, “The Growth of Women's Representation.”

37 Krashinsky, Michael and Milne, William J., “The Effect of Incumbency in the 1984 Federal and 1985 Ontario Elections,” this Journal 19 (1986), 337–43.Google Scholar

38 The data were pooled into distinct time periods in order not to bias the results regionally, depending on which provinces held elections in any particular year. In creating the time blocks the desire to include all provinces in a block was balanced against the desire to have the time periods be relatively short so it would be reasonable to assume they are part of the same “era.” Several variations in groupings were tried, and they do not significantly affect the results reported.

39 The Liberal party is close to showing a pattern of bias in the mid-1970s, too. The difference of means test for the 1975–1978 period is statistically significant at the .11 level. If the 1975–1982 periods are pooled, the test shows a statistically significant difference in the probability that a female non-incumbent would win for the Liberal party.

40 There is one possible exception to this. As Pelletier and Tremblay found (“Les femmes sont-elles candidates dans des circonscriptions perdues d'avance?”), our general result is one of no discrimination. Like Pelletier and Tremblay, however, we find that in the 1981 Quebec election there was some evidence (in our case, almost reaching statistical significance at the .05 level) that the PQ did not provide women with their fair share of winnable seats. This result, however, is both an anomaly in the party's record and a finding that does not stand up to robust statistical testing (if one more PQ woman would have won, the difference would be nowhere near significant).

41 The period 1983–1986 represents an interesting one. In Table 4 the gap between successful male and female non-incumbents is sufficiently small that it is not statistically significant for any party. Yet there is a clear gap in successor candidates for those years, which seems to indicate that, for this test, this period is more appropriately grouped with the earlier period than with the later one.

42 Consistent with the findings in Table 4, neither the PQ nor Social Credit show any systematic bias in terms of type of riding or in quality of riding within the various categories for any period.

43 For the Liberals and the NDP within this category, variance is fairly limited; men and women tend to do just about as well when compared in the same type of riding (successor, open seat or opposing an incumbent). The one exception to this is Liberal candidates in the 1975–1978 period, where women ran in substantially weaker ridings when running against incumbents or in open seats.

44 This finding contrasts markedly with those of Norris, Pippa, Vallance, Elizabeth and Lovenduski, Joni in “Do Candidates Make a Difference? Gender, Race, Ideology and Incumbency,” Parliamentary Affairs 45 (1992), 496–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar In the United Kingdom, they found that women were only 10 per cent of successor candidates (inheritors in their vernacular), but 25 per cent of challengers. This may help explain why women's representation in the Canadian provinces is substantially higher than in the British House of Commons.

45 Brodie, Women and Politics in Canada, 21, 124.

46 Bashevkin, “Building a Political Voice.”

47 As one of the anonomyous reviewers for the Journal correctly pointed out, there is some danger of this argument falling prey to an ecological fallacy. While women as a whole have lower levels of education, income and professional employment, at the level of the nomination meetings it is entirely possible to have individual women candidates who score as high as any male candidate on all of these characteristics.

48 Bashevkin, Toeing the Lines, chaps. 3 and 4; Erickson, “Making Her Way In”; Backhouse, Constance and David H. Flaherty, eds., Challenging Times: The Women's Movement in Canada and the United States (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992Google Scholar); Vickers, Jill, Rankin, Pauline and Appelle, Christine, Politics as if Women Mattered: A Political Analysis of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993Google Scholar); and Bashevkin, Sylvia, “Confronting Neo-Conservatism: Anglo-American Women's Movements under Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney,” International Political Science Review 15 (1994), 275–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

49 One explanation for the relatively equal levels of representation at the national and subnational level, although intuitively appealing, can be ruled out. Ontario and Quebec together account for almost 60 per cent of the federal MPs, and for only 35 per cent of the provincial legislators. If women were better represented in these largest and most urban provinces, then the difference in weighting between the federal and provincial levels might explain why provincial representation has tended to lag, or at best equal, federal representation. While plausible, when we modeled provincial representation of the nation as a whole so that Quebec and Ontario contributed the same percentage to provincial MLAs as they do to the federal House of Commons, we find this does not result in major changes in women's representation. Although there would usually be a few more women, overall representation among provincial MLAs would basically follow the same contours as the actual growth of provincial representation.

50 Burt, Sandra, “Women's Issues and the Women's Movement in Canada since 1970,” in Cairns, Alan and Williams, Cynthia, eds., The Politics of Gender, Ethnicity and Language in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986), 111–69.Google Scholar

51 There were more geniune federal three-party contests than provincial; such con-tests are, ipso facto, more unpredictable for parties. The votes of women, or indeed any undecided group, are more coveted in such a party system. Most provincial seats, and indeed most provincial party systems as a whole, tend to be two-party competitive. See Dyck, Provincial Politics in Canada, 628–30.

52 Bashevkin, “Building a Political Voice.”