Status of Women Committee on April 24th, 2007

[Monica Lysack]

I guess the question isn't, then, how do we pay for it, because women contribute—our economist might be able to tell me—a significant amount to our economy through our taxes. If we remove that, how can we continue to function?

I think there has to be some balance, and also some recognition that the choice needs to be there, that it's not simply a matter of economic need, but that women have the opportunity to make those choices.

While I loved my children dearly, I also wanted to continue to work on my own career and education.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you.

I'd like to ask each one of you to take a minute to wrap up. We still have time. We can walk over quite easily, so we'll have one minute each, and then we will break.

Ms. Smith.

[Beverley Smith]

My daughter is a lawyer, and she's a feminist of the quality of the big day care activist groups. She has been a critic of mine for years, so we have really good dialogues, but she's starting to understand me now that she has children.

I think she's always been amazed that I used the wording of the feminist movement to support women at home, because I'm not going back home. I'm going forward home. I would urge you to look at this, what I'm saying, as a step forward for women's rights, to not lose anything we already have, but to also value our unpaid work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you.

Ms. Harris-Genge.

[Michelle Harris-Genge]

Women's share of unpaid work, including caregiving, has remained stable since the 1960s. Therefore, women are far more likely than men to do non-traditional work, such as seasonal, part-time, and contract work, and therefore women do not often work the requisite number of hours for eligibility.

So in order to increase access to maternity and parental benefits, we must increase accessibility, eligibility, and flexibility to increase economic security for new mothers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you.

Ms. Lysack.

[Monica Lysack]

Thank you.

There are two things I want to say. One is the CCAAC has always promoted a range of family supports. People focus on the fact that we promote a system of early learning and child care, but that's along with a balance of other approaches, expanded maternity and parental leave--including the way people qualify—as well as income supports to families, although we would suggest that a mechanism like the Canada child tax benefit, which recognizes lower-income families and gives them a greater benefit, would be more beneficial.

The second thing I want to talk about or mention in summary is that we have lost our accountability around early learning and child care. We were making some progress when we had agreements that had some terms around them, and now we have transfers.

When Ms. Davidson mentioned the Best Start program and that it would be okay in that area, that's because the 2005-06 transfers and the 2006-07 transfers that were under the former bilateral agreements that were sent to the provinces and territories had been stretched out over a period of years.

When you look at their analysis—and I'm happy to send that to you, and if you'd like to see it you can check it out on our website—it's like a bit of a shell game. So what's unfortunate about that is that the small amount has been taken and sort of disbursed, and then there will be no other further growth.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you.

On behalf of the committee, I'd like to thank you. You've given us very thought-provoking input.

The committee is not adjourned. Can you give me a second, please?

We will ponder on what you have given us. You, as witnesses, come and give us suggestions. As parliamentarians, we have to look at the interdependency, the tax regime, everything else. So we ask you questions. We like clarification. But we will take your comments seriously, and I'd like to thank you for taking the time to travel.

With that, I'd like to adjourn the meeting.