Evidence of meeting #37 for Status of Women in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was data.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:25 a.m.
Co-Chair of the Board of Directors, Canadian Women's Foundation
I've been told not to talk about ideology. And I don't see this as a right or left split. The Canadian Women's Foundation is joined by business groups such as the Toronto Board of Trade, the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Conference Board of Canada, and Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney. These are not groups that people would normally consider non-Conservative.
I think this is about evidence and facts.
10:25 a.m.
Liberal
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
I have a little question.
I will ask my question in French, in my own language.
I have in hand the questionnaire from 2006. I am among those who have reservations with regard to some questions, including question 33, which reads:
Last week, how many hours did this person spend doing the following activities: (a) doing unpaid housework, yard work or home maintenance for members of this household or others? Some examples include: preparing meals, washing the car, doing laundry, cutting the grass, shopping, household planning, etc.
Is that a mandatory question? Am I required, as a woman, to say how much time I have spent weeding my garden? In my view, there is a difference between unpaid work and a hobby. For me, working in the garden is a hobby. I do not have to be paid because it is a pleasure for me to work in my garden.
If some questions are optional, I will happily answer them, but if they are mandatory, that is another story. Weeding the garden, that's personal, it is a personal hobby.
Could you answer this question, please?
10:25 a.m.
As an Individual
I don't like using the words “unpaid work”. I like to talk about “non-market work”. I think the problem for our society in the past several decades, the problem that many traditional economists are now starting to understand, is that our lives have been focused on the market. Everything is driven by the market.
But that's not where we live our lives. Our well-being as individuals, as communities, as a country, our social and economic well-being, depends on the whole economy, what we do in the market that pays us and what we do outside the market.
Some of this involves things that we have to do. You must look after your children or you're going to be penalized, or your children are going to be taken away. There are other things that we may or may not like to do, and we might consider them hobbies. I love my job, but I'm not about to tell anybody that I don't deserve to be paid for it. In the same way, I love my children, but I still have to go to the grocery store and pay money to feed them.
It's the whole economy and quality of life that makes all this important to know about.
10:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you.
I want to thank the witnesses for participating. This was a very interesting session. I'm going to ask everyone to leave as quickly as they can, because we're moving in camera right now. I need everyone out of the room who does not belong here.
Thank you very much.
[Proceedings continue in camera]