Status of Women Committee on April 10th, 2008

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you very much.

I'd just like to let the committee know that the presentation and your plan arrived to the clerk last night, so it's under translation and you will get it. I was going to ask you for the plan.

I'm going to suspend the meeting for half a minute. Ms. Davidson is taking over and you will be doing your motions.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Patricia Davidson]

I call the meeting back to order. We still have a fair amount of committee business to finish, so we need to get at it.

Please go ahead, Ms. Minna.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'll go back to the two motions I presented and had deferred at the last couple of meetings. The first one deals with the commissioner; it is that the government appoint an independent commissioner for gender budgeting analysis. Do I need to read the whole of it into the record?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Patricia Davidson]

I think everybody has a copy of it.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Everybody has a copy. Okay.

What I want to say in connection with this is that the reason I'm saying “independent” and not tying it to the Auditor General is that I thought from the start that it ought to have independence. After listening to the Auditor General this morning and to the expert panel earlier this week, I think it's quite obvious. The expert panel, which had done a great deal of research and study and consultations, have advised that it should be an independent office because it would have a broader reach and an ability to actually oversee and analyze and go in and look at policy directions of government, as well as be a bit of an advocate, I suppose. The Auditor General herself also said this morning that a commissioner working through her office would be limited primarily to evaluating after the fact and would not really be part of the overall process.

I think it's important because there are six officers reporting to Parliament now and women in this country make up 51% of the population. It affects more than women, actually, because GBA is about more than just women; it's about all the population, and the commissioner's office ought to have the strength and powers required to report to Parliament directly. I have neglected to say that the commissioner would report to Parliament; I think it's understood, but if anyone wants to put that in, that's fine.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Patricia Davidson]

Are there any questions or comments?

Go ahead, Mr. Pearson.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

I'm wondering if I can propose a small amendment. I don't know if Ms. Minna is open to that, but I don't think it's just about budgetary policies.

I would like to suggest that we broaden it just a tad to say “that the government appoint an independent commissioner for gender budgeting analysis immediately, to conduct a gender budget analysis of government policies, including budget policies”.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

That's fine. It doesn't change the intent.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Patricia Davidson]

Do you accept that as a friendly amendment?

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Yes, I accept that. Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Patricia Davidson]

Does everybody understand the wording that we're now discussing?

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Maybe Mr. Pearson can repeat it.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

It is “that the government appoint an independent commissioner for gender budgeting analysis immediately, to conduct a gender budget analysis of government policies, including budget policies, and that the chair report the adoption of this motion to the House without delay”.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

I have no problem with that, Madam Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Patricia Davidson]

All right. Who do we have first?

Go ahead, Madame Boucher.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

There is something about this motion I want to understand. I may be having a hard time following, today. Do we know what it will cost, and for how many people? We talked about the commissioner, but Ms. Fraser said earlier that it might go farther than that. When you are talking about an independent commissioner, is this a commissioner like the Commissioner of Official Languages? That is what I understand from the motion.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Yes, it would be similar in scope. In fact my other motion, which we will be dealing with afterwards, I hope, also deals with the act, so the commissioner would in fact be working with a specific act that he or she would be responsible to administer.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I have one more point to raise. Two or three weeks ago I wondered why this motion would not become a recommendation to be included in our final report. It seems to me that if we want it to have some effect, it would be much more appropriate to make it a recommendation in our report than to make it a motion. I am just trying to understand. When I read it, I thought at first that it was a recommendation for our report. It seems to me that we should make it a recommendation in our report.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Madam Chair, I appreciate the member's comments with respect to this matter. If I recall the last time we were doing a report--a report on trafficking--a number of motions came forward from members on the government side and from other members prior to the report's being finalized.

I have to be honest; given the insecurity, if you like, of this Parliament, I was hoping to at least get what I consider to be the core and the essence of gender-based analysis back to the House as early as possible. Of course, these motions were due.... Obviously these motions can and should be incorporated into the final budget if the committee so wishes at the time. I would hope they would be--

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Patricia Davidson]

In the final report.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

--in the final report, and could be reinstated, obviously. There were motions in previous reports when people around the committee felt quite.... This is not a precedent. Given the time and given the insecurity of our parliamentary system these days, I thought it would be wise to at least have some indicators go back to the House.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Patricia Davidson]

We're going to move on.

Go ahead, Madam Mathyssen.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm wondering if I could make an addition to the motion with--

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Patricia Davidson]

Are you proposing another amendment?

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Yes; it's an addition, yes. At the end of the initial motion, after the word “delay”, add:

and the committee recommends that the Auditor General conduct an audit to review Canada's implementation of GBA using the 1995 federal plan for gender equality as a guide.