Thank you for the question.
The 2001 task force set out some very useful guidelines. We would go back to that, look at them in detail, and reconsult with stakeholders.
There are always things we can improve here. So first, you listen to stakeholders. First, you listen to experts. You go back to the task force. But basically I think the mandate is, first of all, that it has jurisdiction over crown corporations, the federal public service, and all of the sectors covered by federal legislation--that's a lot of people in Canada--and the basic mandate is to take a proactive stance with each employer.
The federal pay equity commission would go to each employer and say, “What's your plan?” It would ask how they would propose to reduce this gap that is affecting the rights of women, the rights of handicapped people, the rights of aboriginal Canadians, and the rights of any Canadian who's not getting equal pay for work of equal value. Give us the plan, it would say, and then let's set up some benchmarks together so that we close that gap over time, and so you can report to your employers and we can report to Parliament that we are working together to reduce that gap so Canada delivers on what it says it's going to deliver on, which is basic equality for men and women and all Canadians.
It's the proactive element of this that I think is the key mandate. In addition, I think there has to be a tribunal function so that someone with a specific complaint gets the right to make a complaint and have that complaint adjudicated swiftly and, above all, by professionals, by those whose only job is to deal with pay equity issues.