Status of Women Committee on March 3rd, 2011

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Excuse me, Ms. O'Neill-Gordon, but we have not actually finished in this area.

I would like to thank the witnesses, Mr. Weetman, Mr. Angell, and Ms. Golberg, for coming.

As the chair, I wanted to ask one quick question.

Ms. Golberg, on your action plan, you kept referencing 10 years. Was this an old action plan that was written 10 years ago or is this a new action plan that you are talking about?

[Elissa Golberg]

This action plan was formally launched by the Minister of Foreign Affairs this past October 2010.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much. We look forward to seeing it.

[Elissa Golberg]

It would be my pleasure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

I made a mistake. We are not going to go in camera for our business. We are going to do it in public, so we can begin right away. Because we did not get to do this work last time, we must go very quickly.

Thank you very much.

We're dealing with a motion from Monday, February 14, by the Honourable Anita Neville. This motion reads:

That the Committee recommend that the government conduct a gender audit of all federal funding of sport, including Sport Canada funding programs, funding of infrastructure projects by Infrastructure Canada, as well as contributions to international athletic competitions hosted in Canada, to ensure that funding is being distributed on an equitable basis; That the conclusions of this audit be made publicly available and tabled in the House of Commons; and That this motion be reported to the House.

That the committee recommend...

Do you wish me to read it in French? Do you wish me to move on...? Then we will begin to discuss the motion.

We'll go to Ms. Zarac.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you, Chair.

First of all, Mrs. Neville wanted me to apologize to the committee because she had to leave. She would have liked to be here, but she had to leave for an emergency. She had to be back in her riding. She extends her apologies to the committee and she asked me to present the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Go ahead, Ms. Zarac.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

This audit we're asking for should be simple, because the government has already acknowledged that it's an exercise that's being done already. For us, it's of great interest.

Actually, in response to the letter from the Minister of Finance for a proposal, our Liberal women's caucus sent him a letter asking him to ensure that the next budget would ensure this. It's very simple. It's just to be sure

...that the analysis be gender-based and representative in order to be totally fair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Go ahead, Mr. Tweed.

[Merv Tweed, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Before I start, is the motion in order?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Absolutely.

[Merv Tweed, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

I think what is being requested is honourable. I would suggest that currently Sport Canada is providing much of this information online, if not all of it. It is available to the public. I can cite a couple of examples. There is the Sport Canada support for Canada's candidature for the women's soccer cup in 2015.

When I hear the word “audit”, from a business point of view I interpret that to mean a whole lot of additional work for a department, and I guess that in some cases I would suggest that it is unnecessary work when I can find most of the information or all of the information I would be looking for. It does cost a lot of money, and I think until we get to a point where we aren't satisfied with the answers we're receiving....

I'm not sure, but I would suggest that we should start with department officials and department people. Perhaps even the minister would be prepared to appear. Again, I just question whether the word “audit” is the right word and wonder whether we could look at some other sort of terminology. Because again, if you want answers reasonably quickly, I suspect that an audit's going to take a long period of time and you may not get....depending on what's happening in the political world right now.

We may be able to come to some better terminology. I would suggest that whether you call it a “gender audit” or a “gender study”....but it would include the department to bring forward all that information, and again, perhaps have the minister come in. I'm not sure how this committee works, but I know that most ministers generally come forward when they're requested to do so--in a timely fashion--to make their report. So--

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Tweed, the discussion about who will come to be witnesses for the study is only going to be applicable if the study is accepted. Once the study is accepted, then the usual officials, etc., etc., and witnesses....

[Merv Tweed, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Right. I understand that, but what I'm suggesting is that before you move into moving this motion and actually making the demands, you would want to hear from the departmental officials and you would want to hear from the minister. And perhaps the word “audit” can be changed to “gathering of information,” because I believe that most of it is accessible right now. It's just a matter of how we formulate it and present it to the committee itself.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We will see what the mover thinks of that.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

If we look at it in French, it says exactly what you're asking, so I think it's just a problem of translation, because it's nothing complicated. Effectively, what you've said is that the work is supposedly being done. As for what we're asking for, in French it says “vérification”. I would be willing to change the word “audit” to conform more with the French version, which says a study, an analysis, of all federal funding of sport.

[Merv Tweed, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

I'm not sure what that word would translate to in English, but that is certainly one of the things that I think would be appropriate. Again--

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Tweed, I'm sorry. This is not a debate.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

We would change it also--

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I have other people on the list.

Ms. Zarac and Mr. Tweed, this is not a debate.

Ms. Zarac spoke, and now we have Ms. Simson.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

That's fine. I was going to suggest the word “analysis” as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Is there any further discussion on this?

Mr. Boughen.

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Madam Chair, I don't know what the purpose of the motion is? What are we trying to find out here? As Mr. Tweed said, if it's just basic information, punch in your computer, and you'll have it on your screen in about two seconds. If you want to know how many young people in athletics are male or how many are female, you just ask Google. He'll tell you right away.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Zarac.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

He also said there is lots of information and it's a compilation of that information that we're asking for. Because there is a lot of it, as Mr. Tweed said.