First off, I'd like to congratulate and applaud your colleague, Minister Maryam Monsef, for her leadership on advancing gender equality and women's issues in cabinet and beyond. In our comments with her and other parliamentarians last week, we talked about the importance of advancing economic equality for women and gender diverse communities, because not only is it good and important for society in creating a more inclusive society, but it also has an impact on the economy.
A report by the McKinsey Global Institute predicts that if there were economic equality for women and gender diverse communities, it would result in a positive gain of $150 billion for the country of Canada. This is something that we cannot ignore. If there are barriers to women's economic participation, they have an impact not only on them and their families but also on our collective future. The topic of conversation for the pre-budget consultations was Canada's economic competitiveness. If we do not invest in women and their economic future, there will be implications for our economic competitiveness on a world stage.
In terms of how to partner with organizations such as YWCA Canada, I would say the fact that we are in nine provinces and two territories means that we are ready partners for hosting those conversations, because many of the people we serve, many of our constituents, might not know the full details of what pay equity legislation looks like, but it's critical that the public be fully aware of the way in which this will be implemented and rolled out. I think it would be incumbent on all of us to ensure that there is broad awareness and education of the broader public when it comes to this issue.
I would encourage again that our understanding of the legislation before us is that there are some stipulations that exempt people who work in non-standard employment—folks who are working in contract, part-time, seasonal and other non-standard employment—from this legislation and the merits that it has, and we would encourage that this be looked at, because disproportionately women make up the workers in those spaces.