Evidence of meeting #12 for Status of Women in the 40th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was benefit.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Are you going to move an amendment, or would you rather Ms. Mathyssen...?
Liberal
Anita Neville Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB
I would rather do it as a friendly amendment and see whether Ms. Mathyssen has any comment.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
By virtue of the number of groups and individuals I had hoped to hear from, it seemed that four was rather a minimum. I'm concern that if we just leave it open--as “some”--we may end up with none, because there'll always be something coming up, some objection that gets in the way. For example, we wanted to hear from government witnesses last week, on Tuesday. A vote came up, there were problems, and consequently we didn't hear from them. I don't know when we will hear from them, and I think it's an opportunity lost.
So I have some concerns about leaving it open-ended. I can foresee this being an opportunity lost, when it is an issue that is front and centre with so many of the women's groups we represent as a committee.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Ms. Mathyssen obviously does not agree.
Ms. Neville, do you want to move that as an amendment, or will you leave it as it is?
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
I would just like to say that the committee should not be inflexible. It should be flexible. I agree that we did not put this topic on the agenda initially, but some situations force us to change direction, and priorities emerge.
In my opinion, pay equity is a very high priority. I believe we should discuss it.
Bloc
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
The las time we talked about this, we stated our positions in part in relation to Ms. Mathyssen's motion. The main reason why we wanted to hold these meetings was that the minister had indicated that he had relied on programs in place elsewhere and that he felt it was the best way and the best solution.
I will also remind you that Kevin Lynch recently tabled his 16th report to the President of the Treasury Board. That report also talks about the fragility of public sector jobs and the fact that women tend to be the victims of fragile employment in the public sector. The sooner we can provide them with pay equity, the better.
Lastly, I want to make sure we will have all the information we need to be able to act.
Conservative
Tilly O'Neill-Gordon Conservative Miramichi, NB
I feel that we should put this probably to the end, if we have time at the end. Let's go ahead with what we have planned and then see what we have at the end, if we have time. Some of these topics are going to be covered as we go along anyway, I feel.
Conservative
Candice Bergen Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
I want to say two things. I was just going to respectfully disagree with Ms. Zarac, because she indicated that this was a priority now. But for some us, we felt that we had already discussed our priorities and what we should do. If we throw this into the mix at this point, we almost have to open it up for everybody. For example, in my riding they really love the issue of women in non-traditional roles, and they want to know how they can advance that. That ended up not being one of our top topics. But do you understand? Once we open it up to re-prioritize, it opens it right up.
My other question--
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Women in non-traditional occupations is third on our list of studies, actually.
Conservative
Candice Bergen Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
Oh, good. Thank you. That's great. And if we open it up, it may move up a notch.
Madam Mathyssen, you mentioned that one of the challenges would be timing, so that the different witnesses you were hoping to bring in would be able to come in on those meetings.
To anyone here who could answer this, is it fairly easy to get in the deputy minister and some of those people? Maybe we could bring them in and have them answer at least some of the questions. Maybe we could set aside one of our regular sessions and bring in some of the department officials. At least we would know, during our regular meetings.... We're here, obviously; there's not going to be, hopefully, any votes. Hopefully we can arrange schedules.
That's just a suggestion. I'm not sure if that would come in the form of an amendment. But maybe we could bring them in.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I think Ms. Mathyssen's motion does not state specifically when. She just would like to hold four extra meetings and doesn't say specifically when. It would be within the course of this committee's hearings.
Conservative
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
It would be between now and June. That's quite a length of time. Certainly I have no wish to re-prioritize the business of this committee.
Liberal
Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC
I would just like to mention that when I say pay equity is a priority, it is because, during their testimony, several witnesses talked about it in connection with the issue we are looking at. That is why I am saying it is a priority, because it came up several times. We need to take the time to really analyze it, and I echo Ms. Demers' argument that there is something we do not understand. We are told that what is in the budget at present is similar to what already exists in other provinces. We would like to look at this and understand it better. That is why I would like us to discuss it.
Conservative
Candice Bergen Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
I would like to propose an amendment, if I could, that we decide to have one session at this point, and we invite the officials from the department to come, and we can question them on this issue.