Six weeks since it launched, Build Canada has published 14 policy recommendations—all of them written by men.

The project, which is designed to influence political decision-making ahead of this year’s federal election, publishes weekly memos covering everything from transportation to immigration to government spending. As well as all of those memos being written by men, the supporters endorsing the ideas, of which there are 30 in total, have just one woman amongst them: the wife of the man whose policy idea she supported. 

Daniel Debow, former Shopify executive and one of seven organizers of the volunteer initiative, has previously said that questions about why there are more supporters of Build Canada named Michael than there are women distract from the issues the group is trying to address. Speaking to The Logic, Debow said it was wrong to characterize the project as male-led. 

Lucy Hargreaves, head of corporate affairs at carbon-capture firm Patch, is one of three women on Build Canada’s seven-person leadership team. “I wouldn’t be involved in this if I thought it was some kind of misogynistic tech-bro exercise,” Hargreaves told The Logic. 

Behind the scenes, Hargreaves said Build Canada is run primarily by women who operate the website and help vet and write policies it publishes.

The policy ideas themselves, however, have come exclusively from men.

The launch of Build Canada is part of a broader effort by some of the country’s most influential technology leaders to influence political decision-making. Many of the group’s supporters are also current or former executives at Shopify, which has itself made headlines for its rollback of DEI policies and its response to Kanye West selling a Nazi T-shirt using its e-commerce technology.

Shopify co-founder and CEO Tobi Lutke and COO Kaz Nejatian have also taken to social media to voice their dislike of the ruling Liberal government and show support for Conservative Leader Pierre Polievre. 

In an open letter published last month, a group of entrepreneurs called out unelected business leaders for attempting to shape Canada to suit their interests. The letter, signed by about 1,200 people, condemned moves by big tech companies to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. 

Laura Gabor, co-founder of health and climate startup Ecologicca and one of the people who helped write the open letter, said she’s concerned the Build Canada policy memos may only represent the interests of the men who’ve written them. “I don’t think any male entrepreneur is going to shout from the rooftops about maternity leave,” she said. “You’re going to advocate for things that matter to you. You’re probably not going to advocate for things that matter to me.” 

Debow said the focus should be on the substance of the memos. He highlighted one by Joe Canavan, an entrepreneur and ex-chair of the Children’s Aid Foundation, that recommends creating a $10,000 “head-start” fund for every child born in Canada that would grow to as much as $60,000 by their 18th birthday. 

Melanee Thomas, a political science professor at the University of Calgary, said it’s hard to separate the substance of the policies from the person who wrote them. She said gender and other socio-economic diversity among policymakers is critical to ensure that what’s proposed reflects the broad interests of the population. She points to research on diversity in Canadian Parliament showing that, because lawmakers are disproportionately white, male and older, “the policy serves people who fit that profile.”

For instance, Erica Rayment, Thomas’s University of Calgary colleague, analyzed five decades of debate in the House of Commons and found that women members of Parliament were more likely than their male counterparts to advocate for issues that mattered to women.

“The more diverse the people who are making the decisions are, the more lived experience and policy-relevant information they’re going to bring into the process,” said Thomas, “and the more that helps round out the policy.” 

Build Canada doesn’t purport to be everything for everyone—its focus, said Debow, is on proposing policies that could spur economic growth. Still, Hargreaves and Debow said they would like to see more women get involved in the initiative. “Part of the ethos of Build Canada is to put ideas out there and have a debate and a conversation,” Hargraeves said. “I would love to see people who have different perspectives engage in the ideas.”