Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank the presenters for coming today and giving us their information. It's an honour to have you here. This dialogue is extremely important for everyone around the table.
There are many questions I would like to ask, but I'll start first with pay equity. It's something that this committee and I have long been involved in and concerned about. I have a letter here from 2005 addressed to Ms. Anita Neville, who is still on the committee. She's not present today because I'm sure she has another commitment. Sometimes we have people substitute because we have other commitments.
She was the chair in 2005, and we did a study here on pay equity. The then government said quite clearly:
The Government recognizes the contribution of the Report of the Task Force but after careful review the Government feels that the Report does not provide an adequate blueprint for implementation of pay equity in a broad range of federally-regulated workplaces.
I don't have time to read the whole letter, but I can give you a copy of it. Basically they said they support pay equity, but it needs to be studied again.
Coming to Status of Women, we were very frustrated because we wanted action taken. So when our side of the government came into power we looked at the pay equity issue and thought we could work with the existing legislation, rather than dragging it out for two or three years. The minister put into practice very stringent procedures in workplaces all across this nation to look at pay equity. We're waiting to see what he found out. We're trying to move that forward, because I agree that pay equity definitely needs to be addressed. Certainly the entire Status of Women committee has agreed to that as well.
Looking at the new part of Status of Women, no women's programs have been cut at all. The $10.8 million is still there, and the $5 million has been targeted directly for women's programs. I would encourage people to apply for the programs you're talking about, because that money is readily available to you. That $5 million will be used only for women's issues. The ministers in all portfolios, including Justice, are working in collaboration to ensure that women's issues are addressed.
Have any of you applied for any of the programs that are available right now?
Mrs. Murphy, you were talking about some very interesting programs in your area. Has there been any move to apply for some of that money to assist the women you're working with?