Status of Women Committee on May 14th, 2014

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

I don't want to flog a dead horse. I'm simply trying to get an answer to a question.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Mr. Young, I asked that you move on to another question, whether you have received an answer or not.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

I haven't got the answer to my question at all.

I've worked in the province of Ontario. I've worked for Bell Canada for 14 years. I've worked in small companies, medium-sized companies, and I always thought that the federal public service was a good place to work, that with the work you do, and the work the government does, it's a good place for a woman to work. It may not be the best, but overall there are fair processes.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Mr. Young, I have to interrupt you.

Mrs. Sellah, go ahead.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

I understand that my colleague would like an answer, but I remind him that, on our side, we don't harass witnesses to obtain answers to our questions. We don't always get an answer, but we are satisfied with whatever the witnesses are willing to say.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

I remember asking.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you, Mrs. Sellah.

Mr. Young, you can now ask the witnesses your question.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

I know that at PSAC you do studies of the rights and benefits of employees compared to other organizations. How does the federal civil service rate, when you do those studies, on the benefits, and the rights, and the working conditions, and the opportunities for women in the workplace compared to other organizations?

How does the federal public civil service rate in comparison?

[Robyn Benson]

Sir, I would suggest to you that we have, in the past, and will continue to do so, negotiate fair and equitable collective agreements, but we also have to listen to our membership when 28% believe they have been denied opportunities for career advancement.

This is from surveys that have been done, and so, yes, we have collective agreements, and, yes, we expect managers to uphold those collective agreements, and we're proud of those collective agreements, and will continue to negotiate enhancements.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thank you very much. I realize you're not going to give me an answer to my question. You're not going to say that the federal civil service is a pretty good place to work for women because I know it is, and the facts show that it is.

We heard from Stats Canada that the gap is closing between the participation rate of women in the workplace, but it seems like it's levelled off at about 65% versus men, and it looks like about 72%.

Can you explain why, by any chance?

[Seema Lamba]

Actually, I'd have to look into that. We can get back to you on that. Right now, I....

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

In the recent recession, the employment rate fell less steeply for women and we were advised by Stats Canada that it was probably related to the loss of manufacturing jobs, which were good paying jobs but were more often held by men.

So, I'm going to another slide they gave us that has interesting information. Women have a lower wage than men in all occupational groups, which is very interesting. But they said that, adjusted for experience, etc., women are still paid 90% of what men are. Is it true in the federal civil service and at PSAC that, adjusted for experience, men get paid 10% more than women, among your members?

[Robyn Benson]

We did, as you well know.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

I mean now.

[Robyn Benson]

There are still some groups, and we can get back to you with exactly which groups that....

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Those are your members. Why do you let that go on?

[Robyn Benson]

We file pay equity complaints of which we just settled four or five last year, sir. We just settled the one that was outstanding for 30 years with Canada Post. So, it's all about when the government will settle with us. That is when we will be able to rectify the situation.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much. That was all the time we had for this question.

I now yield the floor to Mr. McKay for seven minutes.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Your main concern is trying to get day care right across the country. That's your number one take away, child care?

[Robyn Benson]

I wouldn't say it's our number one take away, but I certainly look at women being promoted within the federal government and the agencies, and one of the things we consider to be a barrier is the absence of a universal child care system. So, yes, it's a barrier that we see.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

All I'm just trying to say is that this is pretty darn important to you.

[Robyn Benson]

Yes.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

You use Quebec as the example, and the argument you made was that it enhances the participation of women in the workforce in Quebec. The rest of Canada doesn't have universal child care. So, presumably there should be some difference in the participation rate of women who work in Quebec and women who work in the rest of Canada. So, I'm curious, is that true? Or, is that not true? Is there some statistical proof of that?

[Seema Lamba]

The information that we have, what we do know, is that when Quebec instituted their child care there was quite a bit of an increase of women participating in the workplace. What we do know now is that seven out of 10 kids in Quebec under five have access to publicly-regulated spaces, which is a big difference in the type of child care that you get because they have early learning and they've got standards.