OK Weekend list lacked diversity

Two things occurred to me when I saw the list of the 10 best local politicians in last Saturday’s edition of the Okanagan Weekend: It’s mostly a bunch of white guys and we’re definitely going to get some letters to the editor about that.

Nearly a week later, the list is still mostly a bunch of white guys, but, strangely, no letters to the editor.

So allow me to highlight some concerns. (This is me playing devil’s advocate, as I helped draft the list. However, the gender and ethnic disparity never hit home until I actually saw the head shots on the page.)

First, the preamble. The list was composed by Okanagan Valley News Group editorial staff in Penticton and Kelowna. It covers school boards, municipal councils and regional districts in the Central and South Okanagan — basically from Lake Country down to the Canada-U.S. border.

Of the 10 people on the list, Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran, who is of Indo-Canadian descent, is the only visible minority.

That said, visible minorities account for just under 10 per cent of the population in the Central and South Okanagan, according to Statistics Canada, so the list was actually representative on that count. Not so much on the gender side, though. The lone woman on the list is Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff.

However, women make up roughly half of the population in the Central and South Okanagan, according to Statistics Canada (and that other noted authority, common sense), so going by that count there ought to be three or four more women on the list.

But wait, I thought, our hands were tied by the elected officials from which we had to choose. Again, the statistics go against us.

The above-noted school boards, municipal councils and regional districts feature a total of 106 seats (there is some overlap, as municipalities appoint members to regional districts), and 43 of them are filled by woman — or about 40 per cent.

So, yes, it seems woman are under-represented on our list. Why is that? I don’t know.

The editorial team that gave input to the list includes two females — Kelowna staff reporter Andrea Peacock and Summerland reporter Susan McIver — so it’s not like the fairer sex wasn’t included.

I suppose it’s possible we actually did get it right and Mayor McKortoff is the only woman who deserves to be on the list, but I’m skeptical of that.

Ultimately, I have to throw it open to you: Do more women deserve to be on the list? If so, who did we miss? Why?

The prime minister thought the issue important enough when he famously appointed a gender-balanced cabinet back in 2015. Should we have done the same with our list?

As a footnote for those keeping score, my research shows the most female-centric political body in the region is the Okanagan Skaha School District based in Penticton, with five of seven members being woman. (The top two unelected administrators there are also ladies.)

Women are most poorly represented on the board of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, also based in Penticton, with just five of 18 members. (The chair is, however, a woman.)

Joe Fries is the city editor of the Penticton Herald. He can be reached at: editor@pentictonherald.ca.