Item - 2017.GM23.8
Tracking Status
- City Council adopted this item on January 31, 2018 with amendments.
- City Council considered this item on December 5, 2017 and postponed its consideration to a later date. Consult the text of the decision for further information on the deferral.
- This item was considered by Government Management Committee on November 13, 2017 and was adopted with amendments. It will be considered by City Council on December 5, 2017.
GM23.8 - Feasibility of Requiring Gender Diversity of Corporation Boards in City Procurements
- Decision Type:
- ACTION
- Status:
- Amended
- Wards:
- All
City Council Decision
City Council on January 31 and February 1, 2018, adopted the following:
1. City Council direct the City Manager to monitor the Province of Ontario's Women in Business Steering Committee in order to increase the gender diversity utilizing an intersectional analysis on corporate boards to reflect gender parity.
2. City Council direct the Chief Purchasing Officer to include in all procurements a statement that indicates City Council’s support that all corporations should utilize an intersectional analysis to strive to have gender parity on their corporate boards, and that City staff establish, as part of the City’s procurement process, a mechanism to collect from entities conducting business with the City information on the gender diversity of their boards, as part of the Supply Chain Transformation Program.
Background Information (Committee)
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/gm/bgrd/backgroundfile-108498.pdf
Communications (City Council)
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2018/cc/comm/communicationfile-74759.pdf
(December 5, 2017) E-mail from Sharon Yetman (CC.New.GM23.8.2)
Motions (City Council)
That City Council delete the Government Management Committee Recommendation and adopt instead the following:
1. City Council direct the City Manager to work with and support the Province of Ontario's Women in Business Steering Committee in order to increase the gender diversity on corporate boards to reflect gender parity.
2. City Council direct the Chief Purchasing Officer to include in all procurements a statement that indicates City Council’s support that all corporations should strive to have gender parity on their corporate boards, and that City staff establish, as part of the City’s procurement process, a mechanism to collect from entities conducting business with the City information on the gender diversity of their boards.
Amended by motion 1 by Councillor Davis and motion 2 by Councillor Wong-Tam.
Vote (Adopt Item as Amended) Jan-31-2018 6:58 PM
| Result: Carried | Majority Required - GM23.8 - Holland - motion 1 as amended |
|---|---|
| Total members that voted Yes: 30 | Members that voted Yes are Paul Ainslie, Maria Augimeri, Ana Bailão, Jon Burnside, John Campbell, Shelley Carroll, Josh Colle, Gary Crawford, Joe Cressy, Janet Davis, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Sarah Doucette, John Filion, Paula Fletcher, Mary Fragedakis, Mark Grimes, Michelle Holland, Mike Layton, Chin Lee, Josh Matlow, Mary-Margaret McMahon, Frances Nunziata (Chair), James Pasternak, Gord Perks, Anthony Perruzza, Neethan Shan, Michael Thompson, John Tory, Lucy Troisi, Kristyn Wong-Tam |
| Total members that voted No: 6 | Members that voted No are Christin Carmichael Greb, Michael Ford, Jim Hart, Stephen Holyday, Jim Karygiannis, David Shiner |
| Total members that were Absent: 9 | Members that were absent are Vincent Crisanti, Justin J. Di Ciano, Frank Di Giorgio, Norman Kelly, Giorgio Mammoliti, Joe Mihevc, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Cesar Palacio, Jaye Robinson |
That Motion 1 by Councillor Holland be amended by replacing the words "work with and support" with the word "monitor" in Part 1, and adding the words "as part of the Supply Chain Transformation Program", to Part 2, so it now reads:
1. City Council direct the City Manager to monitor the Province of Ontario's Women in Business Steering Committee in order to increase the gender diversity on corporate boards to reflect gender parity.
2. City Council direct the Chief Purchasing Officer to include in all procurements a statement that indicates City Council’s support that all corporations should strive to have gender parity on their corporate boards, and that City staff establish, as part of the City’s procurement process, a mechanism to collect from entities conducting business with the City information on the gender diversity of their boards, as part of the Supply Chain Transformation Program.
Vote (Amend Motion) Jan-31-2018 6:56 PM
| Result: Carried | Majority Required - GM23.8 - Davis - motion 2 |
|---|---|
| Total members that voted Yes: 33 | Members that voted Yes are Paul Ainslie, Maria Augimeri, Ana Bailão, Jon Burnside, John Campbell, Christin Carmichael Greb, Shelley Carroll, Josh Colle, Gary Crawford, Joe Cressy, Janet Davis, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Sarah Doucette, John Filion, Paula Fletcher, Mary Fragedakis, Mark Grimes, Michelle Holland, Jim Karygiannis, Mike Layton, Chin Lee, Josh Matlow, Mary-Margaret McMahon, Frances Nunziata (Chair), James Pasternak, Gord Perks, Anthony Perruzza, Neethan Shan, David Shiner, Michael Thompson, John Tory, Lucy Troisi, Kristyn Wong-Tam |
| Total members that voted No: 3 | Members that voted No are Michael Ford, Jim Hart, Stephen Holyday |
| Total members that were Absent: 9 | Members that were absent are Vincent Crisanti, Justin J. Di Ciano, Frank Di Giorgio, Norman Kelly, Giorgio Mammoliti, Joe Mihevc, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Cesar Palacio, Jaye Robinson |
That City Council amend Motion 1 by Councillor Holland so that it now reads as follows:
That City Council delete the Government Management Committee Recommendation and adopt instead the following:
1. City Council direct the City Manager to work with and support the Province of Ontario's Women in Business Steering Committee in order to increase the gender diversity utilizing an intersectional analysis on corporate boards to reflect gender parity.
2. City Council direct the Chief Purchasing Officer to include in all procurements a statement that indicates City Council’s support that all corporations should utilize an intersectional analysis to strive to have gender parity on their corporate boards, and that City staff establish, as part of the City’s procurement process, a mechanism to collect from entities conducting business with the City information on the gender diversity of their boards.
Vote (Amend Motion) Jan-31-2018 6:57 PM
| Result: Carried | Majority Required - GM23.8 - Wong-Tam - motion 3 |
|---|---|
| Total members that voted Yes: 29 | Members that voted Yes are Paul Ainslie, Maria Augimeri, Ana Bailão, Jon Burnside, John Campbell, Shelley Carroll, Josh Colle, Joe Cressy, Janet Davis, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Sarah Doucette, John Filion, Paula Fletcher, Mary Fragedakis, Mark Grimes, Michelle Holland, Jim Karygiannis, Mike Layton, Chin Lee, Josh Matlow, Mary-Margaret McMahon, Frances Nunziata (Chair), Gord Perks, Anthony Perruzza, Neethan Shan, Michael Thompson, John Tory, Lucy Troisi, Kristyn Wong-Tam |
| Total members that voted No: 7 | Members that voted No are Christin Carmichael Greb, Gary Crawford, Michael Ford, Jim Hart, Stephen Holyday, James Pasternak, David Shiner |
| Total members that were Absent: 9 | Members that were absent are Vincent Crisanti, Justin J. Di Ciano, Frank Di Giorgio, Norman Kelly, Giorgio Mammoliti, Joe Mihevc, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Cesar Palacio, Jaye Robinson |
GM23.8 - Feasibility of Requiring Gender Diversity of Corporation Boards in City Procurements
- Decision Type:
- ACTION
- Status:
- Deferred
- Wards:
- All
City Council Decision
City Council on December 5, 6, 7 and 8, 2017, deferred Item GM23.8 to the January 31, February 1 and 2, 2018 Council meeting or to a special meeting to be called by the Mayor.
Background Information (Committee)
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/gm/bgrd/backgroundfile-108498.pdf
Communications (City Council)
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/cc/comm/communicationfile-74304.pdf
(December 5, 2017) E-mail from Sharon Yetman (CC.New.GM23.8.2)
Motions (City Council)
That City Council delete the Government Management Committee Recommendation and adopt instead the following:
1. City Council direct the City Manager to work with and support the Province's Women in Business Steering Committee in order to increase the gender diversity on corporate boards to at least 50 percent gender diversity.
2. City Council direct the Director, Purchasing and Materials Management, to include in all procurements, a statement that indicates City Council’s support that all corporations should strive to have at least 50 percent gender diverse corporate boards and, City staff establish, as part of the City’s procurement process, a mechanism to collect from entities conducting business with the City information on the gender diversity of their boards.
That City Council defer consideration of this Item remaining on the agenda to the January 31, February 1 and 2, 2018 Council meeting or to a special meeting to be called by the Mayor.
GM23.8 - Feasibility of Requiring Gender Diversity of Corporation Boards in City Procurements
- Decision Type:
- ACTION
- Status:
- Amended
- Wards:
- All
Committee Recommendations
The Government Management Committee recommends that:
1. City Council receive the report (October 30, 2017) from the Treasurer for information.
Origin
Summary
City Council directed staff to report back on the feasibility of requiring companies responding to procurement opportunities for City Businesses to have at least 30 percent gender diversity on their Boards of Directors including providing a jurisdictional review and conducting a public consultation with appropriate stakeholders.
As part of the Social Procurement Policy, the City recognizes that there is a role for the City's procurement process to play in promoting social equity goals, such as enhancing principles of gender equity and increasing business opportunities with the City for other equity-seeking groups such as youth, visible minorities, newcomers, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ2S, and indigenous people. The Social Procurement Policy, an important component of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, is designed to improve access to procurement opportunities for those businesses that are certified diversely owned.
Staff are not recommending however, the implementation of a requirement that in order to do business with the City, a business would be required to have a board of directors with at least 30 percent gender diversity. This is based on the following high level summary of reasons:
- The City should continue to focus on the Social Procurement Policy which promotes access to the procurement process for diversely-owned businesses and is an important part of the Poverty Reduction Strategy versus a policy that creates additional requirements to do business with the City and is only focused on one type of business (corporations);
- Having a requirement focused on one type of business (corporations) creates an unfairness in the competitive process and may reduce competition;
- The legislative regime allows private corporations to be set up with only one person on its board of directors and there is no requirement for a private corporation to disclose its board composition;
- The legislative regime allows public corporations to be set up with at least three people on a board, but does not require the board be made up of a particular composition. Public corporations under the Ontario Securities Commission are required to provide a written policy relating to the identification and nomination of women directors on Boards or explain why they do not have such a policy. In addition, public corporations are also required to identify targets for appointing women to their Boards as well as explain annual and cumulative progress towards achieving those targets. If a company does not set targets., an explanation is required
- There is currently no certifying organization that will validate a corporation's board composition.
- Purchasing and Materials Management Division is in the process of implementing two large business transformation projects to modernize the procurement process to improve efficiency and to allow for more strategic and flexible approaches to procurement. As a result, there is limited capacity to devote the time and effort required to help educate corporations on a new criterion to comply with gender diversity, to disclose gender diversity on their board, nor to develop the appropriate regime in order to validate whether businesses have met the new requirement.
As a result, staff believe it is more beneficial to continue investing the City's limited resources in growing the City's Social Procurement Program as the primary initiative for addressing social equity goals, including measuring and seeking to improve gender equity by increasing opportunities for women owned businesses to bid on City solicitations.
Background Information
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/gm/bgrd/backgroundfile-108498.pdf
Motions
That:
1. City Council receive the report for information.