And the women shall rule….

March 16, 2013

There are 10 primary jurisdictions north of 56 degrees latitude. Women hold the leadership role in 5/10 of these jurisdictions. Here’s the main problem they are grappling with:

• BC. Christy Clark - Premier of BC. She heads a Liberal government that she inherited from long-time Premier Gordon Campbell. There’s a provincial election in May and the Liberals are 5 points behind in the polls. Clark is more ‘pro-development’ than the opposition New Democrats. Collapsing natural gas prices have thrown a monkey wrench into the provinces budget.
• Alberta. Alison Redford - Premier of Alberta. She heads a Conservative government struggling with a multi - billion dollar deficit. Alberta cannot get its oil sands production to market due to pipeline capacity issues. The Americans (Obama administration) are foot-dragging over the Keystone XL pipeline.
• Nunavut. Premier Eva Aariak was sworn into office on November 19, 2008. There are no party politics in Nunavut. Aariuk’s key problems are making due with her budget, housing issues and workforce issues.
• Quebec. Premier Pauline Marois. Her minority separatist government could fall at any time on a single vote. Her government wants to raise mineral royalty revenues in a weak market. To some extent investors are spooked and investments in the mining sectors have declined by $700 M in the past year.
• Greenland. Greenland is poised to get its first female prime minister after a centrist party that supports tapping the Arctic island’s vast mineral wealth. Aleqa Hammond‘s centrist Siumut party won 42.8 per cent in the general election held three days ago. An issue in the campaign is whether to allow 2,000 Chinese workers into Greenland to assist with the construction of an iron ore mine.

 

Commentary

Women form 17% of the US Congress and 22% of the House of Commons in Canada. At 50% women leaders are calling the shots in the north.