Mr. Chair, I have two items.
The first is that I want to briefly discuss the correspondence we received from the Minister of Women and Gender Equality. We had invited her to appear as part of our study on EI parental leave reform. Her office had written back, saying that they see it as an important issue but not part of the minister's mandate.
My understanding of the role of the Minister of Women and Gender Equality is that she's an advocate for women and gender equality issues within cabinet and in a cross-cutting way across policy files. We have invited Minister Hajdu to appear for the study as well, but I would still like us to follow up and say that we're interested in hearing the perspective of the Minister of Women and Gender Equality on this issue, because parental leave has important implications for women and gender equality. Insofar as the minister's role isn't just administrative, but it's also to be a spokesperson and advocate for these issues, I would still like to hear from her.
I wonder whether we can follow up with the minister's office and make that point.
I also want to discuss what we're going to do regarding the study of Bill S-209, but I'll leave that point for a moment if people want to comment on my initial point.