Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Chair.
Just to clarify, the figures that are provided in the departmental plan are the workforce availability figures. Those are calculated to basically determine the workforce that is available when it comes to the four employment equity groups that are named in the Employment Equity Act. The workforce availability, known as WFA, is calculated based on authorities that are outlined in the Employment Equity Act. Clearly, those benchmarks are intended to be a floor, not a ceiling. Departments are definitely encouraged to achieve them and also exceed them, as the case may be.
In any given case, one group may exceed what the workforce availability currently is for that group. That by no means reflects the fact that the government is indicating we should be reducing that representation. We should, I think, celebrate it and continue the important work of trying to increase representation where there are any gaps and, obviously, continue to support the diversity of the public service in that vein.
The departmental plan is very clear. It doesn't say just the pinpoint target or the percentage. It says “at least” and then it provides a percentage, indicating that really that figure is a floor, not a ceiling.
Thank you.