Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to begin by thanking Professor Chicha for her excellent presentation.
I would also like to thank you, Beth Bilson, for your excellent presentation.
I have two questions for both of you.
The first one is to you, Professor Chicha.
You've done some work internationally, and I wouldn't mind hearing from you. Who does pay equity legislation well, if you had to pick one country? If you could also let us know whether that particular legislation applies to both the public and the private sector. Lastly has any of your work in Canada brought out how much it would cost if we enacted pay equity legislation here in Canada?
To you, Ms. Bilson, we're now in 2016. Since 2004 I believe there have been three other federal-level reports and two other provincial reports. We have had a lot of work by amazing organizations done in parallel. Catalyst Canada has done some parallel work that's reached some of the same conclusions you have, in that there are a lot of systemic issues. If you could propose legislation today, what would be the main elements you think we should consider? I would also ask you if you looked at what the cost would be overall of enacting legislation.
One other point I should have mentioned at the very beginning was that I agree it's finally time for us to be addressing this issue. I also agree that it's horrible Canada has the seventh worst record, and it's unacceptable to me for women to be earning 87 cents to one dollar of what a man is earning today.