Status of Women committee  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

Status of Women committee  Absolutely.

Status of Women committee  The whole budget, the 2008 entire budget?

Status of Women committee  I don't have the information on the entire budget. My role as the gender-based analysis champion is to ensure that analysis is conducted and provided to the minister. I ensure that training is undertaken. I ensure that examples are there, the tools are there. I don't analyze the

Status of Women committee  May I answer your question on the...?

Status of Women committee  This is the economic statement that was tabled on October 30, 2007. There's a chart that shows how the tax reductions are distributed across income groups. It's on page 85.

Status of Women committee  Chair, that's not a question, again, that I as the gender-based champion can answer. In not all respects do we have the information, as you can see from our 2006 and 2007 analysis from a gender-based perspective. In some areas we would have the information, in others we wouldn't.

Status of Women committee  Do you mean the analysis we do?

Status of Women committee  We don't currently have any plans to do that.

Status of Women committee  Our role is to pass on to the minister all the facts so that he can make his decisions based on complete information. As the GBA champion, I want to ensure that the analysis is done and that it is done properly. This information is passed on to the minister so that he has all the

Status of Women committee  We have no power. Our job is not to tell him that he must not introduce a particular policy, but rather to provide him with all the information. I do not know how to say it in French, just how it goes in English: Public servants have almost a motto: fearless advice, loyal imple

Status of Women committee  I do not know. Our job is really to provide fearless advice and loyal implementation. That is the role of the public servant.

Status of Women committee  I would like to add something about the GST. Even though the government reduced the GST, it decided to keep the GST/HST credit for low-income people. This means that even though people spend less, the credit remains the same. As a result, there's $1.1 billion for low-income indiv

Status of Women committee  But they do pay the GST.

Status of Women committee  Yes, but—