Last year, Liberal leader Stephane Dion promised that in the next federal election, one third of his party's candidates would be women.

It was an ambitious goal.

The overall percentage of women elected to the House of Commons has been stuck at roughly 20% since 1993.

But so far, so good. The party has even surpassed its target. To this date, Liberals have nominated 215 people and 36% are women.

Critics naturally jump to the conclusion that many of these women were appointed by the leader or that the party is running them in hopeless Alberta ridings where Liberals simply need someone with a pulse to carry the flag.

So far, that's not the case. Dion has appointed three of the party's 78 women and almost half of them are running in Ontario.

The NDP and BQ have long been the front-runners when it comes to attracting female candidates. The Conservatives though are trailing. The party has already nominated 238 people but only 39 of them are women.

One official says many of the party's high-profile female candidates are holding back until an election is certain.