Status of Women Committee on Nov. 7th, 2006

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the clarification on the amendment that we discussed previously.

The original motion, as put on October 31, reads as follows:

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) that the Standing Committee on the Status of Women recognize that all women are equal in Canada under the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that the government strive to address the barriers that would prevent the full participation of women in Canadian society, so the economic, social, and cultural situation is improved through projects directly impacting women in communities across Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Is everyone clear--there seems to be some activity--that I ruled the amendment by Ms. Stronach out of order?

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Just for clarification on the amendment, which one was ruled out of order? We were discussing one last week.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

It was the amendment by Ms. Stronach to Ms. Smith's motion. It's the only amendment I have in front of me--the amendment by Ms. Stronach that would have changed Ms. Smith's motion to read:

...reinstate “equality” as the primary mandate of the Women's Program at Status of Women Canada....

I've already ruled on it, unless someone wants to--

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

I just wasn't sure which one we were talking about.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

That's the only amendment we have on the table right now--the amendment by Ms. Stronach--and I've ruled it out of order. It changes the intent of the motion by Ms. Smith.

We have Ms. Smith's motion. Is there any discussion on Ms. Smith's motion? We'll call a vote on this motion. Do you want a recorded vote?

[Some hon. members]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

(Motion negatived: nays 6; yeas 5)

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

The next motion we have before us is the motion by Ms. Stronach.

Ms. Stronach, would you like to read it into the record and speak to it, please?

[Belinda Stronach, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

The motion reads as follows:

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2)(b), that the Standing Committee on the Status of Women (SWC) hold extended meetings to assess the impact the cuts to Status of Women Canada and the extensive changes to the Terms and Conditions of the Women's Program have had on the ability of Status of Women Canada to carry on its important work on behalf of women in Canada.

I propose this motion because I think it goes to the heart and soul of what this committee is meant to achieve. I think we need to examine what it means when we take equality out of the mandate of the department. I think we should be able to call witnesses before this committee to examine the impact of this important change.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We'll go to Ms. Davidson.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thank you. Can I just ask the mover a question regarding extended meetings? Were you suggesting that we meet longer than the two hours we're meeting or that we set up, say, three specific meetings in the first part of January.

I guess it wouldn't be January, would it?

[Belinda Stronach, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

I think we should deal with this as soon as possible, and that we call third-party groups from which we've had requests to come to committee to explain the impact of the change to equality on their organizations.

So given the original mandate of this committee, I think we need to address some of the fundamentals as soon as possible.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

I'm not opposed to what you're suggesting. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to work it into my schedule. I sit on three committees, and if we're looking at extended times or—

[Belinda Stronach, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

It's not our intention to compromise the work that is being done on human trafficking, so if it means that we have to look at a couple of extra meetings to make this accommodation, I think there would be a willingness, certainly on our part, to do that.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Okay, thank you.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

I would say much the same thing as Madam Stronach said. Because of the nature of the work, to some degree, I think that as we work on the trafficking issue, this particular work will overlap with that as well. At the last session we had with witnesses, there was a question specific to the aboriginal groups, about how the changes in the terms and conditions and the mandate were going to affect their work, and they said it would. So in a way it overlaps.

I would like to do this, and obviously we would like to see this done before the Christmas break. I don't mind. I know we're all busy. We're all doing double committees. I have my fair share as well. But we could do them as two extra meetings, and they could be done as round tables, so we would have a fair number of people around the table to discuss it, as opposed to one or two witnesses only. We do that at the finance committee all the time. We have huge round tables to do the consultations. Sometimes they have ten people around the table, or ten organizations represented.

It can be done in two or three meetings.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Is there any further discussion on the motion?

Ms. Deschamps.

[Johanne Deschamps, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Madam Chair, the members on this side also share the concerns of our colleagues Ms. Stronach and Ms. Minna. I believe we have a duty to examine the likely impact of these measures on the program in question. It's critically important that we do so.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Is there any further discussion?

I think it's quite clear, then, that the intent is for additional meetings, because we already have a pretty heavy schedule for the work we're trying to do on human trafficking. So the intent would be for the clerk to check with all the members, if the motion were to pass, to see what would be the best opportunity. Is it a Wednesday from 3:30 to 5:30? What would be the best block of time so that we could deal with this issue and be able to report back? That's the intent of the motion.

So we'll call for a vote on the motion. Does the committee want a recorded vote on this motion? Should I read it out again? Okay. It reads:

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2)(b), that the Standing Committee on the Status of Women (SWC) hold extended meetings to assess the impact the cuts to Status of Women Canada and the extensive changes to the Terms and Conditions of the Women’s Program have had on the ability of Status of Women Canada to carry on its important work on behalf of women in Canada.

Do you want to specify two meetings, one meeting, or three meetings? Do you want to leave it open?

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Madam Chair, we already have one extra meeting I think in the next four weeks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We have one on gender-based analysis already coming up. This will probably get us into December. So we'll vote on the motion.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

That's the first thing we've passed so far that we have been unanimous on in this committee.

We will move forward on that. The clerk will get in touch with everyone as far as availability, and then we'll do the necessary things to contact whatever organizations are necessary, and we can move forward on this.

Yes, Mr. Tilson.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Madam Chair, I assume that sometime in the future the committee will set aside some time to discuss the list, so that all sides can have a mutually agreed upon list of names, as opposed to the clerk just appearing, with all due respect, with a list of names. So at a future meeting, can we have that opportunity so that all sides could present their lists of suggested names?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I would ask that members submit their lists, as this is the customary way that this is done. Submit the lists with any groups or organizations that you feel have been affected that you would like to have come before the committee. We will present that back to the committee, and the committee will decide what groups it feels are the most important. And I'm sure they'll all be. That will all be done in conjunction with and with the approval of the committee as we move forward on this issue.

Again, the intent is not to belabour these things too long. We want to get some comments back. We'll get the comments back and we will move on, because we do have a fair amount of work we want to accomplish between now and the Christmas break, when we rise, so that we're not leaving too many things undone. So we'll add our comments.

Now that we've moved forward on that, our analysts have been most anxious to try to find a few minutes to discuss with the committee some of the concerns we have as we try to move forward on the human trafficking report.

Because we are going to be discussing a report, we need to move in camera until noon, when our next guests will be appearing, when our witness will be before us.

So we'll be moving in camera. If we could, we'll ask everyone who isn't entitled to be here to leave the room. You can come back in at 12 o'clock. MPs' staff are allowed to stay in the room while we are in an in camera session, but other people have to leave.

[Proceedings continue in camera]

[Public proceedings resume]