Clearly, in the absence of any gender-directed spending outside of Status of Women Canada, what we have recognized over the years from federal budgets is that rarely do they speak to women's interests and women's realities. We were particularly struck in this 2007 federal budget by the use of tax credits as a way to deliver income supports. It's not our view that in every instance that's the best way to support women's needs and realities and those of their families. In addition, because we had no evidence that a gender-based analysis was done of the 2007 federal budget, it was very difficult for us to understand the logic of some of the measures that were undertaken.
I think gender budgeting is a rigorous process. I think that civil society organizations will have opinions and perspectives on how best to meet the needs of women. We have been highly critical of many budgets over the years, in part because there simply is no framework to deal specifically and systematically with women's equality interests. In the absence of that, we are often left at a loss. I would also say that if there's no meaningful dialogue with the Minister of Finance or his senior officials, it's very difficult for us to be in a position to have a positive influence over budgets. So we're often left commenting on budgets that, in our view, don't deliver.
So I would recommend that if you want this to be a more deliberative, collaborative process, it should involve some dialogue between governments and civil society organizations such as ours. To date, that really has not happened. I think that's part of the process.
