I am proud to stand today to talk about my first private member’s bill, Bill 50, the Building Better Business Outcomes Act. It is great to have with me for this occasion my family, friends, and business and community leaders who are committed to diversity and inclusion for a stronger economy and a more inclusive society, and to also have people here from groups identified in this bill.

I will add that, while I did not pick the date for the debate of the bill, I’m delighted that this is happening during Black History Month and just ahead of International Women’s Day.

This bill has a simple premise: that progressive policy is good business policy; that more diverse boards magnify the success of business, which grows our economy and is good for our society. My goal is to drive more opportunity in our economy through improving diversity.

Specifically, this bill will require an issuer whose shares are publicly traded to adopt and make publicly available a written policy respecting the director nomination process that provides for the identification of candidates who belong to one or more of the following groups: women; persons who are Black, Indigenous or racialized; persons with disabilities; and persons who are LGBTQ+.

During my corporate career, I developed an early interest in advancing women in business, and that grew to supporting others from under-represented groups. I have followed with interest the advocacy of organizations who work in this space. I truly believe that diversity at the table and real inclusion lead to better business outcomes, from team decisions made every day at work to big decisions made by the board.

Governments have a role in helping to create the conditions for people of our community to succeed. Many of the residents in my riding of Don Valley West come from racialized communities. Many are immigrants. I want to make sure that we have an Ontario where more of them can become leaders in corporate Ontario.

I want this government to do something that advances where we are today with this very important issue of diversity and inclusion on corporate boards, which, as importantly, will lead to enhanced opportunities in other areas of corporate life for the groups identified in this bill. I want the diverse populations in my riding of Don Valley West and across Ontario to see more people who look like them on boards, because that will create more opportunities for them to succeed in our province.

The topic of diversity on boards has been talked about and researched for decades. Let me share with you the current state of affairs with respect to diversity on boards in Canada. Statistics from the most recent Osler report on board diversity show that women make up 26% of board members of TSX companies—not bad, but we can do better. When we look at other groups identified in the bill, we see that there is still much, much further to go. Of companies that report this data—there are 162 board members who are visible minorities, 17 who are Indigenous and 10 with disabilities, and we don’t know how many LGBTQ+ members, because we don’t track or report that today.

People from under-represented groups, starting with women in business many decades ago, have used three primary arguments to convince decision-makers that diversity on boards is worth pursuing:

(1) the capability argument: “We are capable and deserve as much opportunity as those who are already here”;

(2) the equity argument: “Since we are capable, it is fair and just that we should have a seat at the table”; and

(3) the business-case argument: “Putting women on your boards will help your organizations perform better.”

I believe there’s merit in all of these arguments, and so does this government’s own Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce, which the government commissioned “to help transform the regulatory landscape for the capital markets sector, and advise the Minister of Finance on how to improve the innovation and competitiveness of the province’s capital markets and best help build Ontario’s economy.” I commend the government for initiating this work and the members of the task force who worked on it.

In 2021, the task force issued its report, with 74 recommendations, including three on how to improve corporate board diversity. My bill is taken word for word from one of these three recommendations. In fact, the government has implemented or is moving on many of the 74 recommendations, and I commend them for that too. But there has been no progress reported on the three recommendations related to corporate board diversity, and my hope today is that the debate of Bill 50 will nudge the government to take that action.

As the task force said, “Investors are increasingly demanding data on diversity on boards and in executive officer positions to make informed investment and voting decisions.”

My intention is not to criticize when I say this, but I had to consider the lack of movement on the three diversity recommendations as I sit here in the opposition. In talking to people, some of them said, “Your bill goes too far.” Others said, “Your bill doesn’t go far enough.” I thought about how to encourage the Conservative government to take some action to move on this important issue, so I decided to make this bill only about the least interventionist policy from government and market perspectives. This bill, about adopting a policy, is a light touch to advancing diversity by helping to ensure boards are looking at the broadest possible pool of qualified candidates.

Other jurisdictions are ahead of Ontario on this front. The European Parliament recently passed legislation that compels member states to create their own policies for ensuring that there is diverse representation on boards. In the US, NASDAQ has adopted policies that require women, under-represented minorities and LGBTQ+ persons to be nominated to boards.

So why this bill and why now? There are three reasons:

(1) It has taken decades for our corporate boards to reach about 25% women directors and just 4.5% people of colour, 17 Indigenous board directors, 10 directors who are people with disabilities—and as I said, we do not know the number of LGBTQ+ directors because it’s not tracked or reported. So while the progress and the attention to diversity in ESG more broadly is something to celebrate, we still have a long way to go. About Ontario’s current “comply or explain” policy, which relates only to gender diversity on boards, Maureen Jensen, former chair and CEO of the OSC, said, “The progress has been slow.”

(2) Research shows that more diverse boards are more likely to have better business outcomes than their less diverse peers, so this kind of policy is good policy to grow our economy. One report by McKinsey demonstrates that businesses with more women and more racialized people are 48% and 36%, respectively, more likely to outperform their less diverse competitors. We need this kind of progressive policy here at work in Ontario, for Ontario and for Canada. We know that we want our companies, our corporations to invest more, to innovate more. But Canada is behind its international peers, and this bill can help.

(3) It is a positive, light-touch, action-oriented bill that provides a gentle nudge to business leaders to demonstrate Ontario’s commitment to diversity at all levels of corporate life, starting at the top with their boards.

But let’s be clear: We should not do this only because the business case is solid. Sarah Kaplan, distinguished professor of gender and the economy at Rotman School of Management, has studied this topic extensively and said, “We are not debating the business case itself. Many are convinced that the case has already been made. Complex social issues such as changing social norms and challenging stereotypes cannot be reduced to a spreadsheet. They can only be tackled with an unreserved, passionate commitment from senior leaders.”

This House is among that group of senior leaders who have the power to help make change. That’s why I’m here—that’s why all of us are here. If improving the level of diversity of other under-represented groups takes us as many decades as it did for women to get to just 25% of corporate board positions, that will be decades of missed opportunity and economic growth that the increased diversity could bring.

My hope is that this bill will ensure that more boards, at a minimum, are having this conversation, are looking at the broadest pool of candidates possible to advance their diversity, not only for women but for persons who are Black, Indigenous or racialized; persons with disabilities; and persons who are LGBTQ+; and that boards will do this more quickly than if we maintain only the status quo rule of “comply or explain,” which has moved the needle only slightly.

Leading scholars and businesspeople support this bill. Poonam Puri—who I’m delighted to say is here today with her daughters—an esteemed professor at Osgoode Hall Law School who researches and teaches in the areas of corporate law, corporate governance and capital markets regulation, said that Bill 50 would benefit corporations and their investors, as it “will require companies to consider how they approach their board nomination process to ensure they are getting the best voices they can and will show investors which companies are taking this issue seriously.”

Pamela Jeffery, founder of the Prosperity Project, said, “When you have competent directors looking at a problem through different lenses, better discussion ensues which in turn leads to better decision-making.”

Deborah Rosati, founder and CEO of Women Get on Board, said, “As business leaders, our duty is to all step up today and collectively be agents of change in advancing board diversity in Canada. Together, we can make a difference by promoting diversity as a strategic opportunity for board-building.”

I’m pleased to say this bill is also supported by organizations like Meridian Credit Union, the March of Dimes, LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors Canada Association, the Arya Samaj community of Markham and Toronto, and Intriciti.

I’m also pleased to have the support of Cody Anthony, the founder of the Ted Rogers Indigenous in Business student group that works to increase Indigenous participation in leadership positions, highlight Indigenous entrepreneurs, and encourage Indigenous students to seek an education at the Ted Rogers School of Management.

I’m also proud that Leaside Business Park Association in my riding of Don Valley West supports the bill.

Thank you to all who gave me input, advice and their support.

This issue is a business issue, it’s a societal issue—it’s not a partisan issue. I look forward to hearing from my colleagues on this side of the aisle, as well as from the government members.

There is a time for waiting, and there is a time to act. A vote in favour of this bill is a vote for building our economy by maximizing the diversity of our population, by leveraging the talents of constituents across all 124 ridings represented in this House.

Speaker, it is time we act on this issue and send a signal to all communities that Ontario is not only open for business but that Ontario business is open to them.