Evidence of meeting #21 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was companies.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Djaouida Sellah NDP Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to begin by thanking the analysts joining us today. They can provide us with more information about the prosperity of women.
My first question is for Ms. Phillips.
You are a policy analyst at the Alberta Federation of Labour. You have already talked about temporary workers.
Can you provide us with a comparative analysis between genders under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Alberta?
4:40 p.m.
Director, Policy Analysis, Alberta Federation of Labour
Sure. I'm happy to talk about that program as are many Canadians I think these days.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Joan Crockatt Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
While it might be fascinating for the witness to be able to share her thoughts on this, I wonder if you could direct my colleagues opposite to try to keep their questions on the topic of this study, which is the economic prosperity of Canadian women.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Hélène LeBlanc
Thank you.
Ms. Phillips, I ask that you answer the question, but focus on the women who could be affected by some of the programs.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
Djaouida Sellah NDP Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Absolutely. We know that women have jobs that pay them less than men. In addition, women are more likely than men to work part time.
4:40 p.m.
Director, Policy Analysis, Alberta Federation of Labour
Thank you.
We have seen, particularly in Alberta, an explosion of the use of the temporary foreign worker program in low-skilled occupations. This is not simply in the food service sector, although we do see it there. We see that the majority of those workers in Alberta who are Canadians or permanent residents are in fact women. They are in the hotel and hospitality industries, the service sector.
We also see a large number of temporary foreign workers in nurseries and greenhouses. We also see many now coming in, not through the live-in caregiver program, which has a pass to citizenship, but in fact as temporary foreign workers. I would argue that about a 100% of those workers are women.
What we've found is that employers across the board, in Alberta—we released this data on Friday—are receiving labour market opinions for lower than the prevailing wage rate. What that means is that employers are being allowed, by the government, to pay less than what is being paid to Canadians.
We know that in the service sector, the Canadian workers who are having their wages undercut by temporary foreign workers are women—
4:40 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Hélène LeBlanc
Ms. Phillips, I don't want to discriminate, but I would like you to limit your answer to the effects of the program you are talking about and to tell us whether there is any impact on Albertan women.
4:40 p.m.
Director, Policy Analysis, Alberta Federation of Labour
I was getting there.
4:40 p.m.
Director, Policy Analysis, Alberta Federation of Labour
The impact on Canadian wages is that prevailing wage rates, which we've obtained through access to information from ESDC, have stagnated for the lower-wage occupations in Alberta. That is the impact.
For women who are working in low-skilled occupations, their wages have essentially remained the same since 2008. Now it is small wonder that you cannot attract people to work in those occupations if wages are not keeping pace with the economy. That is a recipe for women's poverty, and it's also a recipe for a continual hamster wheel of the temporary foreign worker program, instead of making sure that Canadian women have access to those jobs first.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
Djaouida Sellah NDP Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
How much time do I have left, Madam Chair, with these interruptions?
4:40 p.m.
NDP
Djaouida Sellah NDP Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
My next question is for Ms. Johnston.
Research shows that gender diversity provides business with some benefits in terms of the decision-making process and performance.
Can you tell us more about how gender diversity improves the decision-making process within companies and corporations while at the same time generating better performance for them?
4:40 p.m.
Executive Director, Catalyst Canada Inc.
In companies that have more women among their senior ranks, that increased presence clearly has an impact on performance. We consider the averages. Of course, we could choose companies with many women in senior positions that are performing poorly. However, generally speaking, the average economic performance is higher when more women occupy senior positions.
Moreover, if more women—three and above—are on a company's board of directors, over a five-year period, the same changes are noted within the executive committee and the organization. We don't know exactly why this is, but it is clear that cultural changes are occurring in the organization.
Although there isn't much research to definitively confirm this principle, common sense says that an individual dealing with a complex problem will definitely not select as external advisers five individuals who think, reason and present their positions exactly like them. When dealing with a complex problem, it is clear the person will seek different opinions that reflect different perspectives in order to make the right decision.
That's exactly the personal experience that has been shared with us by people who are represented on executive committees and boards of directors.
4:45 p.m.
NDP
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Terence Young Conservative Oakville, ON
You tried that before, Chair. Thank you, Chair.
Kate McInturff, thank you for coming. Thank you for coming, Alex and Shannon, and as well for your time.
Kate, you said that in the education sector men still earn 10% more. It's a fully unionized environment. How is that possible?
4:45 p.m.
Senior Researcher, National Office, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Good question.
That was the median employment incomes for elementary school teachers, so it's not taking into account differences in the number of hours worked.
What I would suspect is that the reason for the $10,000-a-year gap in salaries would have to do with that problem of rates of promotion, so, say, you see more men going into school administrator positions, which are higher paid. Also it's to do with the fact that in any sector, women tend to be overrepresented in part time, temporary, and contract work.
I suspect that in education you would also see an overrepresentation of women on contract or working as substitute teachers, essentially, so even though you have a highly unionized sector and some good policies in place to try to equalize pay, we're still facing challenges around promotion and around access to permanent, full-time work.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Terence Young Conservative Oakville, ON
Understood. Thank you very much.
I only have four minutes left.
Alex Johnston, I think you're right on. You have identified subreasons or subgroups of reasons that women don't make it into the higher levels of management and on boards. You talked about sponsors and mentors. You talked about how when they are hired, they don't get the projects with the biggest budgets, etc., so they can show what they can do or create more success for the company. You also talked about access to the executive floor, so the senior people don't bear witness to their talents and skills. Can you give me, in a minute, three ways those things can be promoted?
4:45 p.m.
Executive Director, Catalyst Canada Inc.
Leadership, it's as simple as that.