Democracy Includes Women

…and these pre-vetted diverse sources have indicated a willingness to comment on election issues relating to their expertise. You can reach them directly through the contact buttons on their profiles. 

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BUSINESS, ECONOMY & TRADE

BUSINESS

ECONOMY

Employment

Housing

Unemployment

TRADE

CANNABIS

CHILDCARE

CLIMATE CHANGE

Energy

DATA GOVERNANCE & PRIVACY PROTECTION

FEDERAL-PROVINCIAL-TERRITORIAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS

FOOD SECURITY

HEALTH

Abortion

Mental health

Pharmacare

IMMIGRATION & REFUGEES

INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

Self-Government and Treaty Rights

JUSTICE

LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION

MISINFORMATION

MONEY LAUNDERING

NATIONAL DEFENCE

OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

POLITICS

RETIREMENT & SENIORS

SECURITY

 

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & TRADE

 

BUSINESS

Jenifer Bartman – Founder, Jenifer Bartman Business Advisory Services

  • Business, family business, small business, business planning, growth strategies, business development, investor readiness, global business relationships

Mandy Brouse – Small business owner, Words Worth Books

  • Small business, Entrepreneurship, marketing and advertising, publishing and promoting

Marcela Mandeville – CEO, Alberta Women Entrepreneurs

  • Business and leadership, small business, strategic and business planning, international business development, global development

Vivian Kaye – e-Commerce Coach and Founder & CEO, Vivian Kaye Consulting

  • Entrepreneurship, side hustle, e-commerce, small business

Susan St Amand – President, Sirius Financial Services

  • Finance, family enterprises and businesses 

 

ECONOMY

Sheila Block – Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

  • Economics, public finance

Lydia Miljan – Associate Professor, University of Windsor

  • Economic policy

Anoush Terjanian – Associate Professor, University of Ottawa

  • Economics, politics and economics, modern capitalism, inequality, democracy

 

Employment

Sheila Block – Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

    • Labour market

Katherine Breward – Associate Professor, University of Winnipeg

    • Workplace justice and equity, disability accommodations, diversity management, bias in recruitment

Sylvia Fuller – Associate Professor, University of British Columbia

    • Precarious employment, inequality, gender and work, work-family, immigration

Morgan Rowe – Associate Lawyer, Ravenlaw

    • Employment, labour and human rights law, disability rights law

Lisa Taylor – President, Challenge Factory

    • Employment, future of work, workforce demographics

 

Housing

Emma Cameron – Researcher, Dalhousie University

    • Inclusive housing, community living

Jacqueline Kennelly – Associate Professor, Carleton University

    • Homelessness, housing, issues concerning young people

Samantha McAleese – PhD Candidate, Carleton University

    • Homelessness

Elsbeth Mehrer – Chief External Relations Officer, Boys & Girls Clubs of Calgary

    • Homelessness, youth homelessness, public policy, social policy

Geranda Notten – Associate professor, University of Ottawa

    • Subsidized housing

Nancy Worth – Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo

    • Housing, inaccessible housing market, insecure work 

 

Unemployment

Sheila Block – Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

    • Economics, inequality

Parisa Mahboubi – Senior Policy Analyst, C.D. Howe Institute

    • Labour market policy

Geranda Notten – Associate professor, University of Ottawa

    • Poverty, income support

Katherine Scott – Senior Researcher, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

    • Income security, poverty, social policy

 

 

TRADE

Jenifer Bartman – Founder, Jenifer Bartman Business Advisory Services

  • Tariffs, trade, current affairs

Anoush Terjanian – Associate Professor, University of Ottawa

  • International trade

 

 

CANNABIS

Mimi Lam – CEO and Co-Founder, Superette Inc.

  • Cannabis, cannabis retail

Samantha McAleese – PhD Candidate, Carleton University

  • Cannabis pardons/record suspensions, criminal justice

Amanda Siebert – Freelance author/writer/journalist

  • Cannabis, cannabis in Canada, cannabis for health, cannabis news

 

CHILDCARE

Elena Merenda – Assistant Program Head, University of Guelph-Humber

  • Early childhood education, leadership in early childhood studies, therapeutic play

Geranda Notten – Associate professor, University of Ottawa

  • Parental leave

Susan Prentice – Professor, University of Manitoba

  • Childcare policy

 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Angela Carter – Associate Professor, University of Waterloo

  • Climate emergency, climate crisis, politics and policy of climate change, oil and gas, fossil fuels

Laura Coristine – Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Calgary

  • Climate change solutions

Senator Rosa Galvez – Senate of Canada; Professor, Laval University

  • Climate change, environmental engineering, pollution control, contamination, oil pollution

Sara Hastings-Simon – Research Fellow, Global Research Initiative, University of Calgary

  • Climate change, innovation, clean tech, intersection of technology, business and policy

Deborah Harford – Director, Adapt to Climate Change, Simon Fraser University

  • Climate change, climate policy, climate research, low carbon resilience, emission reduction

Kathryn Harrison – Professor, University of British Columbia

  • Carbon pricing, carbon taxes, environmental, climate and energy policy, politics of carbon pricing

Courtney Howard – Emergency Physician and President, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

  • Planetary health, climate change, climate change and health, wildfires, ecological grief, northern health

Christine Leclerc – Climate Ambassador, Center for United Nations Constitutional Research

  • Climate crisis, democratic solutions to climate crisis, emissions targets

Merran Smith – Executive Director, Clean Energy Canada

  • Climate policy, climate change, conservation, climate solutions

Susan Uthayakumar – Country President, Schneider Electric Canada

  • Climate change and sustainability

Stephanie Whitney – Associate Director, VERiS and Postdoctoral fellow, Wilfrid Laurier University

  • Sustainability, climate change mitigation

Jennifer Winter – Assistant Professor, University of Calgary

  • Climate policy, environmental policy, carbon pricing

 

Energy

Michelle Adams – Associate Professor, Dalhousie University

    • Renewable energy, cleantech, sustainable industrial development, sustainable development goals applied to business and industry, resource efficiency

Senator Rosa Galvez – Senate of Canada; Professor, Laval University

    • Energy policy, environmental engineering

Sara Hastings-Simon – Research Fellow, Global Research Initiative, University of Calgary

    • Energy, energy transition, electricity, electricity markets, electricity policy

Kathryn Harrison – Professor, University of British Columbia

    • Energy policy

Clara Kayser-Bril – Global Lead, Sustainable Energy, CPCS

    • Renewable energy in Africa, solar power, hydropower, electrification

Terri-Lee Oleniuk – Partner, Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP

    • Energy projects, resource development, renewable energy 

Merran Smith – Executive Director, Clean Energy Canada

    • Energy policy, clean energy

Susan Uthayakumar – Country President, Schneider Electric Canada

    • Intersection of energy, technology and sustainability

Stephanie Whitney – Associate Director, VERiS and Postdoctoral fellow, Wilfrid Laurier University

    • Energy, energy management, investment in high performance energy equipment, energy behaviours

Karen Ziegler – Country Advisor, Maersk Oil

    • Energy infrastructure, energy markets, pipelines, petroleum, gas, oil

 

DATA GOVERNANCE & PRIVACY PROTECTION

Glendalynn Dixon – Change Management, Diversity & Leadership Consultant

  • Data governance, data technology

Kathryn Hill – Executive Director, MediaSmarts/HabiloMédias

  • Misinformation, media literacy, digital literacy, online safety, privacy, good digital citizenship

Paula Minnikin – Chief Technology Officer, Minnikin Resources Inc.

  • Technology, internet security, cyber risk, regulated industries, governance

Lauren Reid – President, The Privacy Pro

  • Privacy, data protection, data governance, data ethics, smart cities

Teresa Scassa – Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa

  • Privacy law, open data

Natasha Tusikov – Assistant Professor, York University

  • Data governance, internet governance, smart cities

 

FEDERAL-PROVINCIAL-TERRITORIAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS

Stéphanie Chouinard – Assistant Professor, Royal Military College/Queen’s University

  • Federal-provincial-territorial intergovernmental relations

 

FOOD SECURITY

Nipa Banerjee – Senior fellow and adjunct professor, University of Ottawa

  • Food security, international development, foreign aid, economic development

Steffi Hamann – Assistant Professor, University of Guelph

  • Food security, global inequality, political economy, international development

Elaine Power – Associate Professor, School of Kinesiology & Health Studies, Queen’s University

  • Food insecurity, poverty and food, income and food, hunger in Canada, food banks

Natalie Riediger – Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba

  • Food and nutrition policy, food security

Tammara Soma – Assistant Professor, Simon Fraser University and Research Director, Food Systems Lab

  • Food security, food policy, food waste

Valerie Tarasuk – Professor, University of Toronto

  • Food insecurity, food banks, food policy

 

HEALTH

Ivy Bourgeault – Professor, University of Ottawa

  • Healthcare policy, health workforce

Jocelyn Downie – Professor, Dalhousie University

  • Health law, health care ethics, end of life law, women’s health 

Tara Kiran – Family Physician; Vice Chair Quality and Innovation, St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team; University of Toronto

  • Health policy, healthcare quality

Mélanie Perroux – General Coordinator, Regroupement des Aidants Naturels du Québec (RANQ)

  • Healthcare system 

Amélie Quesnel-Vallé  – Associate Professor, McGill University

  • Healthcare, health services research, social inequalities in health

Natalie Riediger – Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba

  • Health equity, Indigenous health

Helen Scott – Executive Director, Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH)

  • Health policy, healthcare delivery

Farah Shroff – Adjunct Professor, University of British Columbia

  • Public health, integrative health care, social determinants of health

Yola Ventresca – Partner, Lerners LLP

  • Health law, professional regulation, medical regulation and malpractice

 

Abortion

Shannon Dea – Professor, University of Waterloo

    • Abortion rights

Jessica Shaw – Assistant Professor, University of Calgary

    • Abortion, self-managed abortion, birth

Ellen Wiebe – Clinical Professor, University of Columbia

    • Abortion, gynecology

 

Mental Health

Ivy Bourgeault – Professor, University of Ottawa

    • Workplace mental health

Bukola Oladunni Salami – Associate Professor, University of Alberta

    • Immigrants’ mental health, African immigrant health, temporary workers health

Esther Rhee – National Program Director, Autism Speaks

    • Children’s mental health, children trauma and grief, family support

Suzanne Tough – Professor, University of Calgary

    • Mental health, chronic conditions

 

Pharmacare

Cheryl Camillo – MHA Program Director & Assistant Professor, University of Regina

    • National pharmacare, health system reform, health administration

Catherine Carstairs – Professor, University of Guelph

    • History of absence of pharmacare and denticare in Canada’s medicare system, public health, health and body

Jamie Daw – Assistant Professor, Columbia University

    • Pharmaceutical policy, pharmacare, health insurance, health policy

 

IMMIGRATION & REGUFEES

Sharry Aiken – Associate Professor, Queen’s University

  • Immigration and refugee policy

Amira Elghawaby – Journalist & Human Rights Advocate

  • Immigration, racism, marginalized communities, white supremacy

Paula Ethans –  Legal Fellow, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

  • Immigration and refugee law

Sabreena Ghaffar-Siddiqui – PhD Candidate, Sociologist and Researcher, McMaster University/Senior Communications Executive, Canadian Council of Muslim Women

  • Immigration, immigrant and refugee integration

Petra Molnar – Acting Director, International Human Rights Program, University of Toronto Faculty of Law

  • Refugee and migration issues, migration and immigration, international law of human rights

Bukola Oladunni Salami – Associate Professor, University of Alberta

  • Immigrants and health policy, African/Black immigrants, migration and health

Louisa Taylor – Director, Refugee 613

  • Immigration, refugee resettlement, migration, human rights

Lori Wilkinson – Professor of Sociology, University of Manitoba

  • Immigration and ethnicity, refugees and resettlement, integration

 

INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

Lori Campbell – Director, Waterloo Indigenous Education Centre

  • Indigenous issues, education and feminism, adoption, Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, reconciliation

Julie Nagam – Associate Professor, University of Winnipeg

  • Aboriginal and Indigenous issues, Indigenous and cultural theory

Naomi Sayers – Indigenous lawyer and political influencer

  • Indigenous law

Kim Stanton – Associate, Goldblatt Partners LLP

  • Indigenous rights law, Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, truth and reconciliation commissions

 

Self-Government and Treaty Rights

Jodi Bruhn – Director, Stratejuste 

    • Indigenous affairs, Aboriginal justice

Kathryn Labelle – Associate Professor, University of Saskatchewan

    • Aboriginal history, settler colonialism, Indigenous identity 

Julie Nagam – Associate Professor, University of Winnipeg

    • Aboriginal issues, Indigenous issues, Indigenous and cultural theory 

 

JUSTICE

Kathryn Campbell – Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa

  • Young offenders, miscarriages of justice, youth justice

Lisa Jørgensen – Partner, Cooper Jorgensen

  • Access to justice, criminal law, criminal defence

Samantha McAleese – PhD Candidate, Carleton University

  • Criminal justice, pardons, record suspensions, cannabis pardons/record suspensions

 

LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION 

Elizabeth Dubois – Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa

  • Political communication

Lydia Miljan – Associate Professor, University of Windsor

  • Political communication, politics, elections

Sarah Neville – Director, Open Line Communications

  • Public speaking, speaker coaching, presentation skills

Shari Graydon – Founder and Catalyst, Informed Opinions

  • Effective communication, speech writing, performance training, presentation skills

Katherine Sullivan – PhD Candidate, Université de Montreal

  • Political communication, Canadian politics

 

MISINFORMATION 

Elizabeth Dubois – Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa

  • Disinformation, political bots, artificial intelligence

Kathryn Hill – Executive Director, MediaSmarts/HabiloMédias

  • Misinformation, media literacy, digital literacy, online safety, privacy, good digital citizenship

 

MONEY LAUNDERING 

Vanessa lafolla – Lecturer, University of Waterloo

  • Money laundering, fraud, financial crime

 

NATIONAL DEFENCE

Andrea Charron – Director, Centre for Defence and Security Studies

  • International relations, Canadian defence policy, conflict analysis, Canada – U.S. defence relations

Colleen Bell – Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan

  • Security, war, military intervention, counterinsurgency

 

OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

Stéphanie Chouinard – Assistant Professor, Royal Military College/Queen’s University

  • Official languages, language rights, relationship between Francophones and Anglophones

 

POLITICS

Sylvia Bashevkin – Professor, University of Toronto

  • Canadian politics, comparative politics, women in politics

Amanda Bittner – Associate Professor, Memorial University

  • Political parties,  elections, political psychology, public opinion and voting

Stéphanie Chouinard – Assistant Professor, Royal Military College/Queen’s University

  • Federalism, judicial politics, law and politics

Penny Collenette – Adjunct Professor, University of Ottawa

  • Canadian politics, women in politics, liberalism

Katie Davey – Founder, Femme Wonk

  • Provincial and federal politics, social and public policy, youth engagement

Elizabeth Dubois – Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa

  • Politics, elections

Dana Gold – PhD candidate, Department of Political Science, University of Western Ontario

  • Politics, Arab-Israeli conflict, foreign policy

Kate Graham – Political Scientist, Western University

  • Young people and politics, democracy, local government, diversity, women

Kathryn Harrison – Professor, University of British Columbia

  • Political science, Canadian politics, comparative politics, federalism, politics of carbon pricing

Amanda Kingsley Malo – Founder, PoliticsNOW

  • Women in politics, community organizing 

Lydia Miljan – Associate Professor, University of Windsor

  • Canadian politics, elections, electoral politics, behavioural politics, federal elections, provincial elections, municipal politics

Velma Morgan – Teacher and Chair, Operation Black Vote Canada

  • Women in politics, black community in civic engagement, cultural and gender inclusion in government

Arezoo Najibzadeh – Women in politics advocate, Young Women’s Leadership Network

  • Women in politics, politics and public policy, Canadian politics

Jasmine Pickel – Interim Ontario Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation

  • Politics, government, tax, federal taxation issues

Stéphanie Plante – Elections expert and advisor, International Commission of Jurists, Canada

  • Elections, Electoral integrity, Leadership contests, Small scale democracy, Referendums, Voter turnout, Barriers to minorities in politics, Election systems and administration

Leah Sarson – Assistant professor, Dalhousie University

  • Gender and politics, Indigenous global politics, Canadian foreign policy, international relations

Naomi Sayers – Indigenous lawyer and political influencer

  • Canadian politics, Indigenous women in politics

Katherine Sullivan – PhD Candidate, Université de Montreal

  • Canadian politics, women in politics, political communication, social media

Melanee Thomas – Professor of Political Science, University of Calgary

  • Canadian politics, gender and politics, elections, voter behaviour, political engagement, public opinion and policy

Erin Tolley – Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto

  • Women in politics, race, gender and diversity in Canadian politics

 

RETIREMENT & SENIORS

Amy Friesen – CEO and Founder, Tea & Toast

  • Senior’s industry, retirement residence, living options

Lisa Taylor – President, Challenge Factory

  • Retirement, multi-generations, boomers, aging

 

SECURITY

Sharry Aiken – Associate Professor, Queen’s University

  • Security issues

Colleen Bell – Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan

  • Security, war, military intervention, counterinsurgency

Stéphanie Martel – Assistant Professor, Queen’s University

  • International relations, security

Laura Tribe – Executive Director, OpenMedia

  • Internet policy, security, censorship, access

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