Evidence of meeting #22 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 startup.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON
Ms. Cattari, thank you for what you had to say. It's very powerful.
You mentioned that you needed adequate nutritious food. What would be the recommendation to this committee?
4:10 p.m.
Member, Board, Canada Without Poverty
There are a number of recommendations around accessing adequate food. One, it does come down to income, whether there are social transfers to provinces that are adequate for funding social programs, or something that comes through the federal government. It becomes particularly important to make sure that we keep local farming alive and well, so that fresh food is available locally that isn't at a higher cost.
Unfortunately, while relative inflation has stayed low, in 2012, the cost of fruits and vegetables went up 6% to 13%. This makes it very difficult to maintain adequate nutrition on the Canada pension or a provincial pension. I think that would be the most important part of that.
The next thing is the way people buy food, and it does lead into housing. It's a very bizarre thing. When you have low income, you end up living in the unpopular areas. They're usually what's called food deserts. You end up buying at stores that really aren't supermarkets. The food is overpriced and really malnutritious. Ensuring people can live in areas, mixed income areas, where you would have good grocery stores becomes really important, and comes down to setting regulations around planning in cities as well.
May 5th, 2014 / 4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you, all of our guests, our witnesses, today for providing this valuable testimony.
I guess I wanted to know from you, Ms. Lennox, first of all, what a women engagement manager does. It sounds like a good title.
4:15 p.m.
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Startup Canada
We took the Clinton Foundation approach. Rather than throwing the women's program over here, it really is about ensuring that every single thing Startup Canada does actively encourages and engages women.
If we're launching the 1,000 start-ups program, in which we're profiling 1,000 start-ups, half of them need to be women. If the women are not signing up, then we proactively go find them.
It's just making sure that women are proactively engaged in all of our programs rather than siloed off into their own thing.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
Excellent.
I recently met the Carleton University chair of women's political and policy leadership...something like that. It's part of the public affairs program at Carleton. She was very impressive. We talked about all kinds of issues related to women in leadership roles. She talked a little bit about the attitude that's been mentioned today and at some of our other meetings, with regard to women who sometimes just don't think they're qualified.
How does Startup deal with...or do you deal with people who need that extra encouragement?
4:15 p.m.
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Startup Canada
Sure, we do. We deal with them all the time.
One of our key principles is inclusivity. No one will be turned away, whether they're just starting up and they have an idea or they're an entrepreneur wanting to give back. I think it's just through living the culture of entrepreneurship, living the culture of inclusivity. It kind of breeds it. But, yes, we confront it all the time.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
When you were asked about the two main things, you mentioned the importance of role models. Do you think there's a translation? Let's say your mother was an entrepreneur. Do you think you're more likely not only to be an entrepreneur but also to possibly go into a more non-traditional field as well? I'm thinking about working in a skilled trade, let's say. Do you think it's all connected?
4:15 p.m.
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Startup Canada
I think what our parents encouraged us to do when we were kids will significantly influence our career trajectory.
I grew up in a household that had a very low income. We were in a family crisis shelter for a while. It was very challenging. So I was brought up to work in a stable job. For me to do anything other than a stable job would really make my parents anxious, and I can feel that. I feel that if I fail, I will let my family down as well.
I think those stresses definitely compound. Encouraging and making parents more aware of skilled trades, of alternative career paths.... Educating parents is just so important to the success of our young Canadians.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
That's very interesting. Thanks for sharing that.
In the future, in particular, what are the goals of your organization, other than to get more members? What kinds of things are you looking at doing in the future?
4:20 p.m.
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Startup Canada
In Canada the government invests in a lot of stuff related to entrepreneurship—incubators, accelerators, and mentorship programs. The RDAs invest in lots of activities, and all of it is completely disconnected.
So what we're focusing on at Startup Canada right now and over the next five years is connecting it up, making it make sense for the entrepreneurs so they can navigate the ecosystem, access mentors more quickly, figure out where they need to go, and, entrepreneur to entrepreneur, really tell the truth about what's working and what's not working so that we can invest public funds better.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
4:20 p.m.
NDP
Isabelle Morin NDP Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I am not normally on this committee, but I am pleased to replace my colleague, Niki Ashton. I find this study very important. Thank you for the testimony you gave today.
I will build on what Mrs. Ambler said. I would like to know what influence parents can have on level of education. Actually, I would like to know whether parents who are in the entrepreneurship category can have an influence on their children. My question is for the representatives from Canada Without Poverty.
Could you provide some clarification on the links that exist between family income and the tendency for young people to obtain a higher education, to grow up in an entrepreneurship environment and have more self-confidence? Do you have figures on that?
4:20 p.m.
Member, Board, Canada Without Poverty
Thank you for the question.
The link between success and opportunity is really important to understand, and I believe Ms. Lennox touched on this. Without exposure, and especially in young children's lives—exposure to opportunity, to ideas, to growth—leadership, ownership, entrepreneurship do not become options. They're not on the horizon. When you have teenagers in areas where deprivation exists, unfortunately thinking ahead to big and bright futures is not what they're thinking. They're thinking about getting enough money to eat, getting enough money to have a roof over their head, maybe adequate clothing, and a phone. They're really not thinking about the big picture and long term.
I can send into the committee some hard numbers on entrepreneurship, or at least post-secondary numbers for you.
4:20 p.m.
NDP
Isabelle Morin NDP Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
I would appreciate that very much. Thank you.
I will continue along the same lines. The family model has something to do with it, but so does the community model. You spoke about mentors, which are very important on the smaller scale of the community.
Ms. Thompson, you just mentioned housing. I think that this is what's happening in many places in Canada. There is a concentration of disadvantaged people in my riding, for example. The NDP just proposed a national housing strategy to help people in that situation.
There is a food desert in the Saint-Pierre neighbourhood in my riding. A lot has been said about it. A co-operative was formed to create the Saint-Pierre market. I congratulate that co-operative for all its work. It needs to be said that people don't always have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. In our society, it is much cheaper to buy chips and Coke than milk and oranges. It's really frustrating.
Do you have any solutions to this problem? What should the federal government be doing? What role do we have to play as parliamentarians? Do you think we could help solve this kind of problem?
4:20 p.m.
Member, Board, Canada Without Poverty
Well, I'm thinking of rural Nova Scotia in terms of community, as you were talking about...and I work for a women's resource centre. We have a women's group there that is doing women's entrepreneurship. But one of the problems that they are dealing with is access to pensions and health care. It's all very well to say, “Start your own business,” but you have to have a number of things in place. You have to have, first of all, somebody to buy your service or your product, and in rural Nova Scotia very few people have any money, and they're getting less and less as we clear out and all head out west. But also CPP is voluntarily paid for, for the self-employed, and sometimes for people, feeding your family comes first and CPP comes way down on the list of what you're to going to pay.
I have a number of recommendations. Where do I start? One of the recommendations I would say is pensions and health care plans for people who start their own business, because it becomes an option for too many people, for too many business owners, because they're not making enough, and particularly for women, their families tend to come first. Women are very cautious with money as small business owners, and we try to help them out in the women's group.
4:25 p.m.
Member, Board, Canada Without Poverty
I will wrap it up.
I have a number of recommendations, but I'm not going into them right now, other than pensions and health care plans.
