Thank you.
Evidence of meeting #24 for Status of Women in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was finance.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #24 for Status of Women in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was finance.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Prof. Kathleen Lahey
My understanding is that you would like one or two of these items broken down with a really detailed kind of way.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Thank you.
Ms. Davidson, I can only give you two minutes. Go for it.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
I'd like to thank everyone for coming back again this morning and doing the presentations.
Certainly we've heard some valuable information here this morning. We've got some concrete questions we can ask. You've steered us in a good direction. We've heard things today that will certainly apply to the mission and the objective of this committee, which is to study gender budgeting. What we've heard today is of great use to us, far better than trying to determine if another set of policies might have been the way to go. That's not our role here. Our role is trying to determine whether the policies that were chosen are the correct ones. What we got today was some information to help us do that.
I really look forward to having the written information. I love to be able to have it in front of me so that I can make my own notes.
I have one question for Ms. Peckford. You had mentioned a possible role for the Auditor General. Could you elaborate on that a bit more for us, please?
Director of Programs, Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action
Certainly in our previous submissions we have contemplated whether or not the establishment of a gender equality commissioner within the Auditor General's office would be of use in actively monitoring, over a longer period of time, the efficacy of the GBA that's being undertaken. We have also thought about the fact that, given that the analysis here by the finance department appears not to be as sophisticated as it could be, appears to not be in keeping with the general spirit and framework of gender-based analysis, we would seriously invite the committee to consider whether or not you'd want to have the Auditor General undertake a review of some of the tax and spending measures over the last decade, so that someone who is obviously well positioned, has the capacity, and could do a rigorous and fair job of assessing these things could be better involved.
That would be our suggestion to you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Thank you.
For the benefit of the committee, we have a motion by Ms. Minna, but we are having the Auditor General and the environmental commissioner come before us to suggest to us how, if we ever move towards that area, we could go forward.
Ms. Minna has kindly agreed that her motion be deferred to the next meeting, so I'll give one minute—two minutes, maximum—to Mr. Pearson, and then we'll have to finish.
Liberal
Glen Pearson Liberal London North Centre, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I spoke to you the last time about how frustrated I get with some of this stuff, so let's put it this way: I think you've really nailed it for us that the gender gap is growing. I think we're getting that message. I think it's really good. But for the sake of this committee, the one piece that seems to me to be missing is the model. If we spent a day doing that—which somebody around this table suggested earlier in this meeting—to me the best thing this committee could probably to do is to develop that model.
Could I ask you briefly, if you have the time, how would you do that day? Who are the people you would bring in to build that model?
Prof. Kathleen Lahey
By “model”, are you talking about a model for doing a full-scale gender-based analysis?
Liberal
Glen Pearson Liberal London North Centre, ON
Correct, because it seems to me that pieces are missing from the model we have.
Liberal
Glen Pearson Liberal London North Centre, ON
So how would we do that? How would we put that together?
Prof. Kathleen Lahey
I think you start with the eight steps that Nancy Peckford outlined. You make sure you have somebody who can do research on the realities of women's lives, which is the piece that is missing, assumptions of gender neutrality, etc. That's where this all goes off the rails.
To give you a really quick example, the recommendations regarding the green tax levies on certain vehicles and the repeal of the excise tax exemption for bio-favourable fuels, the Department of Finance simply says both men and women drive, so this has no gender impact. But if you look, even two minutes of research will disclose that women drive completely differently, from the cars they buy, whether they're new or used, whether they can afford the new hybrid vehicles that will get these tax rebates, whether they can afford to pay more for their ethanol, and so on, now that the excise exemption has been repealed. And you see that because women's incomes are so much lower, because women do a lot more stop-and-start driving because they have to drop the kids off at day care, go to the dry cleaner, go to the grocery store, go to work, pick the kids up....
What's missing is researchers who are willing and able to fill in the gender context on both sides of each and every tiny issue that's being examined. That's the key piece, and that's what Status of Women is uniquely able to provide.
Director of Programs, Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action
I would suggest that you'd need, obviously, some well-established researchers, tax policy and public investment experts, women's organizations that have credible standing in the community and in the country, and some international experts who you've already heard from who could help inform how they developed such models. I think if you had all those people in the room at once, along with all of yourselves, you'd come up with something that would be pretty dynamic and interesting.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Thank you.
We are having some international experts on Thursday, a video conference from Britain, Scotland, and the States.
What I'd like to let the committee know is that there's a German delegation, our counterparts for the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, coming on April 14. We will provide you with the details of where we are meeting, and I would really appreciate it if all of you were there.
When the Afghan delegation came, we didn't have too much participation. The German delegation, our counterparts, are coming on April 14, and the clerk will provide you with where, when, what, etc.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
No, no, I said I'd like your participation.
Thank you very much to our panellists. You have been excellent, and we thank you for all the input you've given us.
Thank you.
The meeting is adjourned.
