Mr. Chair, I'll go back to some of the issues we saw in the report. The first thing we saw was that the framework to introduce GBA was not applied uniformly across the sample departments. At the end of the report, in paragraph 1.58, we suggest a number of barriers that could explain that. One of them is that there's no mandatory requirement to do GBA.
For example, for environmental issues, they have what they call strategic environmental assessments, for which there is a cabinet directive. In this case there's no obligation to do any GBA. That's the first thing we noticed. The framework is not applied properly. This might be explained by the fact that it's not mandatory.
We also noticed that when it's done, it's not done equally. Some do it well, some don't do it well. For some initiatives it's very well done, for others it's done quickly. The challenge function by senior management is not always there. We saw one example where in a TB submission there was no gender impact reported, but there was no analysis performed to reach that conclusion.
I think what you saw today in the action plan appears to be.... We didn't assess the action plan in detail, but it looks as if it's steps in the right direction. What remains to be done, and I think the main challenge, is those barriers. Will this action plan address the challenges associated with those barriers? That remains to be seen.