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Five of Canada's nine women premiers have been conservatives, as well as its only woman prime minister

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First Reading is a daily newsletter keeping you posted on the travails of Canadian politicos, all curated by the National Posts own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent direct to your inbox every Monday to Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET (and 9 a.m. on Saturdays), sign up here.

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In slightly more than two weeks, it seems likely that the United Kingdom will be swearing in its third-ever woman prime minister. And just like the other two, this ones going to be a Conservative.

Liz Truss, the U.K. foreign secretary, currently enjoys a commanding 22-point lead in the Conservative Party leadership race to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson. If this lead holds when results are announced on Sept. 5, she can expect to be sworn in immediately as the U.K.s head of government.

Trusss elevation to 10 Downing Street would further highlight a unique political quirk shared between the United Kingdom and Canada. When it comes to breaking gender glass ceilings in electoral politics, the role has been disproportionately filled by women representing right-leaning parties.

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To date, the only two women to reach Britains highest elected office were leaders of the Conservative Party: Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. Kim Campbell, Canadas first and to date only woman prime minister similarly headed the Progressive Conservatives.

Meanwhile, the leading centre-left parties in both Canada and the U.K. the Labour Party and the Liberal Party are both conspicuous for having never once elected a woman leader.

While the U.K. Labour Party has seen the occasional woman serving as interim leader, a woman has never won a party leadership race. The Liberal Party of Canada remains the only major Canadian party that hasnt even had a woman as acting leader. Although the Liberals last leadership election in 2013 was dominated by women, all of them were steamrolled by the candidacy of Justin Trudeau.

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In Canada, the trend of conservative women beating progressives to high office even holds up at the provincial level.

Canadas first-ever woman premier represented the right-leaning B.C. Social Credit Party. Rita Johnston got the job after the 1991 resignation of Bill Vander Zalm, and would later switch her allegiance to the upstart B.C. Conservative Party after the Socreds collapse.

Of the nine women who have ever headed a Canadian provincial government, slightly more than half have represented a right-wing option in the legislature. In addition to Johnston, the first woman premiers in both Manitoba (Heather Stefanson) and Newfoundland and Labrador (Kathy Dunderdale) were Progressive Conservatives. Christy Clark, who was B.C. premier for six years, headed the B.C. Liberals, a party that despite its name is the provinces main centre-right option.

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A fifth is Albertas Alison Redford, who headed the ostensibly centre-right Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, but thanks to a quirk of Alberta politics ended up being the progressive option in the 2012 provincial election she fought against the more conservative Wildrose. Although, that election broke its own Canadian glass ceiling by being the first in which both primary party leaders were women: Redfords main opponent was Wildrose leader Danielle Smith.

Canadas other four female provincial leaders consist of two Liberals (Ontarios Kathleen Wynne, P.E.I.s Catherine Callbeck), one New Democrat (Albertas Rachel Notley) and Quebecs Pauline Marois, who headed the Parti Qubcois.

There are other countries whose first national leaders represented centre-right options, most notably Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel, and New Zealand, with Prime Minister Jenny Shipley. But Canada and the U.K. are basically the only major democratic countries where it is the norm.

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While the United States has not elected a female president, the only woman ever nominated for a major party candidacy was Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party. A Democrat was also the first female state governor.

Israels Golda Meir, one of historys first women to serve as prime minister, represented the countrys Labor Party. Indias Indira Gandhi, still the countrys only female prime minister, headed the left-leaning Indian National Congress. Norways first woman prime minister, Gro Brundtland, represented Labour. So did Australias first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard.

And while Canadian conservative parties may be comfortable with putting women in the top job, its a whole different story when it comes to basically any other electoral first.

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The first Canadian women to win office at the municipal, federal and provincial levels all represented progressive parties. Similarly, Canadas first LGBT politicians are represented almost exclusively by either Liberals or NDPs, a rule that also holds up for Canadians from Indigenous groups or other ethnic minorities.

The only real exceptions to this rule are Lincoln Alexander, Canadas first Black MP, and Douglas Jung, Canadas first-ever Chinese-Canadian MP: Both were elected as Progressive Conservatives.

Theres yet another case of Canadian hospital staff seeming to nudge a chronically ill patient towards killing themselves. Global News interviewed a Canadian Forces veteran suffering from PTSD who was casually offered the option of euthanasia during a conversation with a Veterans Affairs Canada employee. The story comes only days after a widely circulated Associated Press feature broke revelations about a patient in London, Ont., with a severe brain disorder being offered medically assisted death by a hospital ethicist who first reminded him that his treatment was costing the system north of $1,500 a day.

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ArriveCAN the mandatory COVID-screening smartphone notable for once sentencing 10,000 innocent Canadians to mandatory house arrest has garnered another enemy. A coalition of Chambers of Commerce representing border communities from Manitoba to New Brunswick has come out to urge the federal government to scrap the app, saying it kneecaps tourism, worsens supply chain problems and is bafflingly ineffective at preventing the spread of COVID ArriveCANs sole justification for existing. The coalition joins a diverse field of official ArriveCAN haters, including politicians on both sides of the border representing both left and right-wing parties. The government has lost all credibility on this app, and people dont trust it, says a recent web video by the extremely mustachioed Conservative MP Martin Shields.

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ArriveCAN has been glitchy, invasive, and added to the hold-up at airports. Not to mention it cost taxpayers $25 million. The government has lost all credibility on this app, and people don't trust it, but they insist on keeping it around. It's time to scrap the app. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/c7LPoJzRTK

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FIRST READING: Why Tories (and not Liberals) are way better at putting women in high office - National Post