First of all, thank you for taking the online course. That is great. I would encourage all of you to take it, because it really does help people think about GBA, not as a specific resource or program, but as a way of thinking about the impact on men and women.
To answer your question about who is responsible for GBA, I do it as a shared responsibility across government departments. Yes, Status of Women Canada.... I don't think we were ever in charge, but we are the ones who live it and breathe it because this is about achieving gender equality. GBA is a tool to achieve gender equality. We can provide our courses, tools, and guidance to departments.
Our colleagues at PCO and TBS can provide the challenge function. You are absolutely right that, by the time it comes to an MC or a Treasury Board submission, it is kind of late to say that we are going to go back and really look at this program differently because of that.
We are trying to work very strategically at the front end, trying to invest more resources, time, and effort to see the areas where it makes sense to look at GBA and say, “Does it have a disproportionate impact on women? Does it create barriers for participation of women?” It is not just women in general, but specific age groups, income levels, or ethnicities. That is a GBA+.
We are going to try to do that through this new action plan, but really, it is a shared responsibility because we can try as much as we want, but if there is no uptake by departments, it is not going to work.
In terms of what has actually changed this time around, first of all we have the AG's report, which has galvanized all of us into action. We have the government's commitment to gender equality. We have our minister, who has been charged by the Prime Minister in her mandate letter to pay attention to GBA, and she is very willing and active. She has written to all her ministerial colleagues, and I have written to all my deputy colleagues, to talk about some of the details on it.
We also got the investments in budget 2016. I would just like to say that it is not about resources. We could have double the resources but still not be effective. It is not about money. It is about buy-in and commitment.
We have the three of us as the central agencies, so to speak, steering this and really taking a look at it. Departments are very engaged. Now, it is basically about how we are going to monitor and report on it. What does success look like in five years? What are the indicators? What policies or programs did change because we did an effective GBA?
To me, those are all the success factors. Yes, time will tell whether we are able to do it, but certainly all the conditions we needed are there to make a difference this time.