Evidence of meeting #3 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 funding.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON
But I do make the offer of giving you the breakdown that I received from Clare as to the benefits of the budget for women.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Good. Thank you.
Now, Minister, it's five after. You said you would stay an extra five minutes. Madame Demers is the last person. Could she have her five, or must you leave?
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
No, no. If the committee wishes to have two members of the New Democratic Party at these committee hearings, both of whom have status, then this does not follow the rules of committee. I'm sorry. There is only one person with status at any one time at this committee.
NDP
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
It would all depend on whether the committee agrees to this or not.
Does the committee agree to this?
No, the committee does not agree.
Ms. Mathyssen, you've just managed to spend almost a minute of your time, but go ahead.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
There's been a great deal of talk about infrastructure and how women are not able to avail themselves. I'm more concerned about social infrastructure, because social infrastructure creates more jobs and more economic security than any other kind of infrastructure. Then of course there is the question of child care and the fact that women are kept out of many of the traditional jobs that were discussed earlier because they cannot access child care. I was wondering if the minister could see her way clear to using her influence in cabinet to promote the need for a national child care policy to ensure that women have access to employment and education and training.
Conservative
Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON
I think the member is aware that the minister has said a number of times that the transfer of payments to the provinces is increasing at 3% a year, and day care programs are under the jurisdiction of the provinces. I'm not the lead minister on that, and what I've been hearing from Canadian women is that they actually like the universal child care tax benefit. They like it; they want it. They believe in choice, and they like the decisions that our government has made. I support that, obviously, or I wouldn't have run on this campaign.
But also with respect to the budget, we will be seeing some personal income tax relief, and that will benefit low-income families, low-income women. We'll also see an increase in the child tax benefit, and we'll be enhancing the working income tax benefit for women. These are initiatives that low-income women will benefit from, and they will ensure that they can have a better standard of life. They're not the answer to every problem, but there are good measures in there. I would just like to say that if we have criticisms of the budget, we have to also recognize when there are some good measures, and those are good measures.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Unfortunately there is no choice if there are no child care spaces, Minister, and I think that's key to the need for a national program.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I actually did have a chance to go through this document, and I'm very pleased to have it, and I'll be coming back with lots more questions. I hope the minister will be able to attend further sessions.
In looking at the estimates, it's already been indicated that there is $773,000 for human resources. The resources were for staff--the 60 or so employees who sought retraining--and I wondered what kind of training was available. Were the jobs available in other areas of government? And it also mentions money made available for counselling. I wondered about the nature of the counselling, how long it was available to employees, and how many people were able to actually avail themselves of the counselling.
Coordinator, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
I think what you're talking about there is the reference to the workforce adjustment measures that were in place. We made counselling available to all of our people affected by workforce adjustment so that they were able to seek other employment. We were very effective, actually, in having people find other jobs very quickly. We looked for other places within our organization when people were free to move, and a number did so. So in fact I think we were highly successful with respect to workforce adjustment, and we did keep a number of people and find different employment for them within the organization. For those who wished to move on, we gave them all the services that were available to help them do so. In fact we had one person who took education leave and is now coming back into another position with us.
Coordinator, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
We now have 89 staff.
Liberal
Anita Neville Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Can we have confirmation that we will receive the materials the minister has indicated? If any questions were not answered, can we have them answered in writing, please?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Minister, can you confirm that the materials you promised will be sent to the clerk?
Liberal
Conservative
Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON
I will be more than happy to do that. I'd be even more happy to come back—