Status of Women Committee on March 11th, 2008

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

I'm not sure about my next question, either.

Does Finance have any plans to make gender-based analysis of tax policy public information, via the Internet, as part of the electronic directory?

[Louise Levonian]

Do you mean the analysis we do?

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

That's your last question, Ms. Mathyssen.

Thank you.

[Louise Levonian]

We don't currently have any plans to do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you.

You have five minutes, Ms. Boucher.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I would like to thank you for being here this morning to help us understand this better.

I would like to come back to what Ms. Demers was saying about the cutbacks at Status of Women Canada and so on. Last week, some announcements were made. Women on the ground were very pleased that we reviewed the mandate of Status of Women Canada. Grassroots people, like myself, had problems in the past and were not part of a group that had access to this funding.

A number of witnesses have told us that some departments were reluctant to apply GBA to their budgets. Which departments have difficulty in this regard? Why do they not do GBA automatically?

[Mireille Éthier]

Department of Finance officials had no negative reaction. They simply wondered what these budgets were and what they should do. They also asked for our help. Once the training has been given, it does take some time to understand what needs to be done and how to do it right.

I'm not sure that the Department of Finance is the best example. In the memoranda to cabinet that we get, there is a GBA. It is very difficult to determine the attitude of other departments. This may be more of an issue for other departments, the Privy Council Office or an agency more involved in coordination activities.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Exactly.

[Mireille Éthier]

I must say that we did not encounter this reaction at all within the department. I know that does not really answer your question.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

That means that when you get memoranda from departments, they include a gender-based analysis. Is that correct?

[Mireille Éthier]

Yes.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

What would the percentage be: 90%, 10%, or what?

[Louise Levonian]

We do not see these things much at the Tax Policy Branch. I have spoken with other groups that do the GBA. As GBA champions, they receive this information. And when they do not get it, they ask for it. We provide it to the minister for decision-making purposes. So it is important that we receive this analysis from the departments.

[Mireille Éthier]

I think that Treasury Board, as part of the memorandum to cabinet process, places a great deal of emphasis on this analysis. You heard about that last week, when Mr. Wild appeared before the committee. It takes some time before we see change.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Does that mean that what needs changing is the attitude displayed by some departments?

[Mireille Éthier]

I must confess that I do not know the answer to that.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

The Privy Council representative last week did say that you were the lead department in this. So, when people prepare budgets, briefs, reductions or other things, they are then sent to you. Could the Department of Finance systematically integrate GBA into all activities? We hear a lot about Finance, but could we see what could be done elsewhere?

[Mireille Éthier]

I would not want to diminish the Department of Finance's role, but I do think it is mainly responsible for the budget process. That is where the department has some influence. We are not responsible for the machinery of government outside the budget process. When we receive submissions, we insist that there be a gender-based analysis. This analysis is part of our activities, but beyond that, we get into an area beyond the jurisdiction of the Department of Finance. The Department of Finance is important, but it is not all-powerful. We are really involved in the budget process. Consequently, it is difficult for us to respond to this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you.

We now go to Ms. Minna for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I have a series of questions and a couple of comments. In your document today entitled “Gender Analysis of Budget 2006 Tax Policy Changes”, there's a statement that says the taxes were reduced from 16% to 15.5%, which in fact is inaccurate. The taxes were down at 15% by then; they were increased in that budget to 15.5%. I in fact have in my office a Revenue Canada return form for income taxes that shows 15%, and it was increased.

Then on the personal exemption again you show an increase, although in fact that budget lowered it by $400. That's just an accurate situation; I think it's important for us to get the correct information when we have information.

The other part is that, Ms. Levonian, you said earlier that getting data was a problem sometimes. We've had a lot of witnesses here tell us that the segregated data is in fact available, that Statistics Canada has a lot, that the question of data is not a good reason to not do a proper GBA.

Now I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. When I ask them, take into consideration whether or not we've taken into consideration all of the elements of women—immigrant, lone parent, rural, and what have you.

You say that the $1,200 benefits all people. It may benefit a single mom by $50 to $60 a month, but that does not provide child care. We call it a universal child care program. It might be a minor income support, but it doesn't provide child care.

I want to know this: was there a proper GBA done from the perspective of actually providing women, especially low-income women, with child care, and of how that $1,200 actually delivers it?

If you could do that quickly, please, I want to come back to pension splitting and I need to discuss it.

[Louise Levonian]

On the question of whether a gender-based analysis was conducted for the universal child care benefit, it was conducted. The universal child care benefit is $100 a month, provided to individuals to assist in providing support in child care. It doesn't profess to answer all the questions and doesn't profess to deal with the entire child care funding—

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

I'm sorry, I hate to interrupt. Maybe this is not a fair question, but did the analysis show how a mother could actually buy and pay for child care with $100? Then it's taxed back at the end of the year anyway, so it's less than $100.

[Louise Levonian]

Did the gender-based analysis...?

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

Did the GBA look to see whether in fact that $1,200 was able to provide child care?