The Quebec act, originally, was one of the most encompassing laws in Canada. It covered the public and private sectors. But it contained a number of ambiguities. In fact, a few years after it was passed, about 50% of businesses still had not implemented the equity process. These businesses were given a second chance. Now, however, should they not fulfil their obligations, the bill provides for penalties. So it's an improvement.
In my opinion, one of the good things about the bill was that it clarified the concept of maintaining pay equity. It's one thing to establish a right, but we have to make sure, given that it's a fundamental right, that it's maintained over the years. Accordingly, a certain number of guidelines made available to the parties was completely appropriate. This is really a very short summary of the advances made, but concerning the question you asked the previous speaker, I can tell you that the Quebec bill never brought equity back to the level of something negotiable.
Where there is a union, we want the development of pay equity to be a participatory process. There's no doubt about that. It's not an exact science. We want the development of evaluation programs to be devoid of sexist biases, but the parties' assessments have to be taken into account. However, there's a fundamental difference: if the parties are not in agreement that women's rights are fully respected, it's always possible to refer the matter to a third party. We don't let the power relationship or strictly financial considerations determine the issue.