Thank you, Madam Chair.
Our government recognizes pay equity as a human right, and a very important human right. The pay equity provisions have been in the Canadian Human Rights Act since 1977. The equal wage guidelines were actually enacted under the Conservative government in 1986, and this government remains a strong supporter of pay equity. Under the previous Liberal government, funding cuts to the labour program in the early 1990s resulted in almost a decade without any pay equity programs
I must say the minister did look at the pay equity legislation, and we will not be supporting this motion, because he has already taken action to ensure that supervisors are in place, and there is very strong support for pay equity without the legislation actually having to be changed, and all the timelines and everything. Without its being held up, he's just getting the job done now.