I understand that, but my concern in looking at this budget is that its negative impact on women is quite significant. For example, if you look at page 110, there's a chart and this discussion about changing and modifying the child tax credit and child benefits. Families earning less than $20,000 receive nothing. Families in the $35,000 range get something like $35 a month. It's not until you get into the $150,000 range where you see anything substantive, and it's something in the neighbourhood of $800.
That would seem to be something we should be very, very concerned about. It has a profoundly negative impact on women and their families. Why on earth wouldn't the department be concerned about that?
Also, I'm very concerned about the impact of the so-called pay equity legislation that's embedded in the budget implementation act. It's going to be a collective bargaining process, and the Human Rights Tribunal is excluded. Now any complaints go to the Public Service Labour Relations Board, which has no expertise in regard to pay equity, unlike a human rights tribunal.
I come back to the concern that pay equity is a human right that cannot be bargained away. It should never be a bargaining chip. And the fact that there is no commissioner....
The fact that this has been very clearly part of the budget process brings me back to a concern that this committee should have, and I think the department should have, despite the technicalities about training. It seems to me we have an obligation to women in this country, and we're failing.