Pay Equity committee  We have the experience, though, in New Brunswick. At some point, there was an election where all political parties promised to have pay equity legislation for all of the public sector, and I believe, even for the private sector, but when the Liberal government of the time, which

Pay Equity committee  That's also what I remember about the report. It contains a lot of details about the steps to reach not only unions, but also the representatives of non-unionized workers. The participation of employees in the process is really important. In essence, that is part of recognizing t

Pay Equity committee  I think the legislation needs to contain guidelines that explain what needs to be done to maintain pay equity. There also need to be times when the work done is reviewed. Once again, the report mentions that, and provides recommendations. Various sections of the committee's repor

Pay Equity committee  It is difficult for us to speak on behalf of employers. In New Brunswick, as I have explained, they participated in a roundtable where the pay gap issue was discussed. Employer associations have all recognized that there were problems with pay inequity and work needed to be done

Pay Equity committee  I just want to know what you're talking about. Is it the track record on the wage gap?

Pay Equity committee  To explain their success, if you like?

Pay Equity committee  I don't have the knowledge to answer that question.

Pay Equity committee  Well, it's because it's unfair to be paid less than you should be paid for the value of your work. That's really what it is. It's unfair that you're not paid as much just because you happen to have chosen a job that is done mainly by women. It's not fair that you're not paid enou

Pay Equity committee  It's less detailed and that's a problem. It should be more detailed. The issue is complex, so the more detailed the legislation is about the process the employers have to follow, the better it is. In our case, it's not that clear in some cases. The timelines are also a bit too

Pay Equity committee  It would be nice to have the 9% increase for everybody. No, I don't think it's the way we look at it. It's really dangerous to equate the wage gap with pay inequity, because really the wage gap is influenced by so many factors. The fact that women are much more educated now infl

Pay Equity committee  In terms of lessons learned elsewhere, I think the Quebec model is relevant. At first we consulted the people of Ontario. We then made changes to the Ontario model to develop better legislation. I think we can draw on that model. As for smaller firms, we find it is important to

Pay Equity committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair. My thanks to the committee for inviting the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity to appear today. My presentation will be in both official languages. I will start in French. The New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity is a group of almost 800

Status of Women committee  I would just like to repeat that we are not against new groups obtaining funding, or against new projects. The projects are valid; that is not the problem. What we are against is that this is being done on the backs of the groups that are already in place. In the past, when group

Status of Women committee  I think that is the case in most provinces. Provincial governments do not fund all the groups involved in defending rights, for example, or even groups that do the same kind of work as we used to do with Status of Women Canada: equipping women to better understand how to achieve

Status of Women committee  We are working to promote pay equity. So we cannot expect to get funding from most employers. It is quite difficult to approach them. We have asked to meet employers. Sometimes, it is interesting and positive; other times, it is interesting, but not so positive. I do not think th