Status of Women committee  Okay. In summary, the message I would like to leave is that we need to work on our vision for EI, which includes opting in not just for maternity. I get so tired of hearing just “maternity”. I want maternity, I want paternity, and I want compassionate care benefits. The next t

Status of Women committee  I need more time to think about it, if I could. I'm willing to get back to you on that, because you have opened up another problem. You have to remember, we were the cause of it. CPP was not formed until 1966. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, women did not work. If they worked, the

Status of Women committee  Again, that goes back to how I say we should be revamping the EI program, which is they should have the right to opt out, just the same as if it was employer relative, and not be charged that fee because they can't collect it anyway.

Status of Women committee  Right now, isn't the government saying it's $14,000? I read somewhere that it said $14,000, because I was—

Status of Women committee  To me, it's one and the same. It's very hard when you have a parent who is sick and elderly. Even as an owner, I now have to take a minimum of ten hours off a week to take care of someone who has Alzheimer's. Again, I haven't studied that far, but if we could parallel it, we co

Status of Women committee  At ACC, we allow flex time. For example, if you need to take care of an aging parent or you have to go, we allow everyone, not just women, to work four ten-hour days, and then they can take the Friday off. But they are empowered to determine what hours they need to work, all 65 e

Status of Women committee  I have thought about it. I think the rules should be the same, whether they were married or not, based on income. In my opinion, I think we should allow women who were never married to have access to some portion of, or the same portion, equality for all. So, yes, when I talk abo

Status of Women committee  Can I expand just a little bit, if that's okay? Again, I'm not speaking on behalf of CGA when I talk about that day care. As she just said, they don't have a position. It is very difficult today for us to balance our work life. One of the problems we have is a day care problem.

Status of Women committee  Then I'll go next.

Status of Women committee  Yes, I was just going to say, if I could talk about my vision of what the government can do to help young women or people who are trying to access capital, it is called mentoring. It's called networking. I think what the government can do is set up these centres of excellence.

Status of Women committee  Yes. Thank you. Right now, the way it's set up, it is designed on the premise that two people can live as cheaply as one. But if you remove that one salary, that person now is only living on one salary, which is greatly reduced. Let's not kid ourselves, we all know it's greatly

Status of Women committee  I wanted to add, if I could, about the EI, that I think opting in is a good solution. I think there's another avenue with EI we could possibly look at, and it's to do with employed relatives. Right now, at ACC for example, seven members of my family work at ACC, who under the EI

Status of Women committee  Yes, but can I go back to the RSP for a second? When I try to develop something on my own, such as when we talked about EI, there's already a precedent set using WCB out in Alberta. When I look at the RSPs and talk about helping business women access their RSPs to help start

Status of Women committee  I'm sorry if I appear nervous; I've never done this before, so I have a banging headache. I've gone through your past sessions regarding CPP. When you look at CPP and what can we do as a Canadian government to help foster, grow, and help our, as you say, elderly, I believe that