The party of Quebec's first (and so far, only) woman Premier is struggling to ensure even 40% of its candidates this fall are women.
According to the party's website, of the 80 candidates that the Parti Québécois have nominated in advance of this fall's election campaign, just 29 are women. That's 36%, making the PQ the furthest from gender parity of the four major provincial parties' slates of candidates.
By comparison, the Coalition Avenir Québec has nominated 49 men and 45 women, putting the party just shy of parity at 48% women candidates. The Liberals are slightly further behind at 44%, with 39 women candidates to 49 men.
Québec Solidaire, meanwhile, is the only party to (so far) have nominated more women than men in Quebec's 125 provincial ridings. Per the party's website, 62 women have been nominated as candidates to 57 men, meaning women comprise just over 52% of the party's nominated candidates.
QS is also the furthest-along in amassing a complete slate of candidates, with candidates posted to the party's website in 119 of 125 ridings. In an interview with CJAD 800, co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois suggested that even after the party confirms its last few candidates, a majority of their full slate will be women.
Nadeau-Dubois added that special efforts are also made to ensure that as many of the party's women candidates as possible are running in ridings the party can actually win in. "We want, if possible, to have fair representation of everyone the day after the election [too]", he said.
Representatives from the CAQ and Liberals could not be reached for comment, and the PQ have not returned CJAD 800's request for an interview.
Quebec's 39-day provincial election campaign will begin on August 23, with election day scheduled for October 1.