Status of Women Committee on May 3rd, 2007

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Usually when the minister comes she brings officials with her. I would like to have them all come and talk about the planning and priorities and the way forward for Status of Women Canada. There seems to be—maybe it's me, but I think it goes beyond me—a lot of misunderstanding of quite how the department is moving forward, and I think it would be useful to have a discussion and some clarification.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Okay.

Ms. Davidson.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Did you say, Madam Chair, that on May 17 that would happen?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

That was a previous request.

I'm sorry, that was for the officials.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Okay, because that was going to be my question: how are we going to be able to accommodate that? I thought that date was out.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Mr. Stanton.

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

To follow this up, the minister has been in front of this committee twice in the last year. We have a committee of the whole presentation coming up, presumably before the 31st, before estimates are due. We could put the request in, but it's going to come after the estimates. Presumably, it would be at this stage, considering there's really only going to be one full week after that last week of May. We're going to be looking at the fall before--

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Do you know something we don't know?

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

No, certainly not, but our session only goes until the 9th of June, so we have one week in June.

Considering that we have a committee of the whole coming up, I would certainly speak in favour of not putting a request out. We're going to have the minister and her officials in the House, in committee of the whole, in that last week of May. I assume we'll all be participating in that, and perhaps other honourable members will be joining us for that discussion. That should more than suffice, going forward.

I think we have other business in front of us. We have this report to finish up, and hopefully we'll be moving on to more engaging work on behalf of women's issues in Canada. Let's move on with that and use the committee of the whole to our full advantage.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Perhaps this discussion could continue in the next meeting. I see a number of people are missing, and it would seem that this is something the committee would like to resolve, perhaps, in the future.

Madam Demers.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Madam Chair, in the Health Committee, the Minister of Health usually came and answered our questions concerning votes, even though we could subsequently put questions to him during consideration of the Estimates in the House.

If we have a lot of questions, we would obviously like to hear from the minister here. If we already know what questions we want to ask, and if committee members know they will have the opportunity to ask him all those questions during that evening—I assume it will be in evening—then he'll be accompanied by the deputy ministers concerned who are responsible for various matters. I don't know whether that will be enough. We should review that next week and make a decision on the matter. We definitely have a number of questions to ask him and we can get answers concerning a number of votes.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Certainly, I'm in your hands, but if that's agreed by the committee, then we can indeed continue this discussion at the next meeting.

Madame Demers.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Madam Chair, I'd like to speak, with your permission, before you adjourn the meeting.

With regard to the evidence of a person who appeared here this afternoon, the working conditions of these individuals certainly may not be our responsibility. However, I would like to bring it to your attention that, if we didn't previously know their working conditions, we do know them now. So it is becoming our responsibility to ensure that that is at least reported to the committee responsible for those questions so that it can consider this situation. We have to do everything in our power to make those conditions change.

Earlier Mr. Maloney was talking about having positions in order to top up hours. It's being done in other sectors. In the cafeterias on Parliament Hill, employees are transferred to other locations, vacant positions are filled, and employees have regular working hours. Why does this situation exist only at the parliamentary restaurant? It's very disturbing. It isn't just women; there are men as well. These are people whom we must respect.

What can we do? Who can we appeal to? I don't know, Madam Chair, but we can't think about improving the working conditions, the living conditions and the economic security of all the women in Canada and Quebec and not improving the living conditions and economic security of women who work with us here on Parliament Hill. We can't do that. That would be very hypocritical, and I would be ashamed.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Thank you, Madame Demers.

Perhaps I'm overstepping, but it would seem to me we all have the opportunity to raise this in our caucus and speak to our House leader. Of course, the House leader does interact with the Board of Internal Economy, and decisions are made there. A beginning would be a discussion within each caucus.

Mr. Stanton.

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I support that direction.

By the way, I was going to mention that I don't disagree with what Nicole has said, but the difficulty I would have in doing anything formal on this is that—and I can't remember her name offhand—she came to us on a confidential basis, and it would not be appropriate to put her in a position.... These are personnel matters. I think when we start treading on those kinds of questions, there are many unanswered questions, and it's not good to presuppose. At the caucus level, yes, because a confidence is upheld there, and this would be the proper approach.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Irene Mathyssen]

Thank you.

Certainly the witness came here in confidence that we would respond. I think to respect her, it is most appropriate that we do respond.

It looks as if we're finished.

I adjourn this meeting.