Status of Women Committee on May 12th, 2015

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Yes, that's specifically what I'm asking.

[Meena Ballantyne]

I just want to clarify that it's not a reduction of the budget of Status of Women Canada, by any means. What we've done is to transfer resources from one area of the organization to another.

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

From advancing equality to where?

[Meena Ballantyne]

To the internal services.

That is because when we looked at the past five years, we noticed that the spending we've done has been in the internal services, which also advances the equality priority as well.

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

What kind of internal services are we talking about?

[Meena Ballantyne]

They would be GBA; commemorative events; the Strong Girls, Strong World event last October, which the minister was talking about; the Women Entrepreneurs Forum: the It Starts with One campaign as well; and also for modernizing our website.

We noticed that in the past five years what we spent was very different from what we forecasted at the beginning of the year. We thought we would make this adjustment to reflect the true expenditures, and that's what this is.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

Mrs. O'Neill Gordon, you have seven minutes.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister and the department for being here. We realize the busy schedule that you all have. It makes it that much more valuable that you're here. We appreciate your time.

My question is about the Status of Women of Canada fund through the women's program initiative, a wide range of community-based projects across the country that address the social and economic situation of women.

Minister, can you please provide examples of the funding that has been approved through these initiatives? We know there are a lot out there and they're very beneficial, so could you elaborate on some of this funding?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Thank you very much for the question.

As I had mentioned at the outset, Status of Women Canada has, since 2007, supported well over 780 programs across the country. Our focus is on the community project. Canada is an extremely large country. We know that the needs and focuses in St. John's, Newfoundland, are very from those than in Collingwood, Ontario, and from what they would be for an individual in Whitehorse in Yukon.

Because of that, our focus has been on a series of calls for proposals that focus on the three main pillars of Status of Women Canada: ending violence against women and girls, economic empowerment, and a focus on leadership opportunities and participation in democracy.

I can give you some examples of what we have been focusing on. With respect to Status of Women Canada's ending of violence against women and girls initiative, one excellent example would be the Shield of Athena project, with just over $340,000 for a 36-month project developed to educate women in the Montreal area on issues of gender-based violence. This project was completed in March of this year. The intent of the project was to network women's groups and workers with six different ethnocultural communities to inform them about violence in the name of so-called honour and about their rights and legal protections, making sure that individual women were trained and equipped through the community liaison workers to detect these situations, to make sure that they were supporting victims of these crimes, and to allow them in their local communities to allocate resources appropriately to protect these women.

The initiative has been outstanding. The dialogue has been on a sensitive issue. I think the Shield of Athena has worked very well with the ethnocultural media to disseminate this information into communities and provide greater assistance to a wider range of women in the Montreal area in those targeted communities.

The group launched their three multilingual tools as part of the tenth National Victims of Crime Awareness Week held in April of this year. It's an example of something that we're doing on ending violence against women and girls, as a specific focus. We also have projects that are focused on economic empowerment for women, as well as on leadership skills for women across the country.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you.

All of these projects certainly are important, but I like it that you give specific thought to each area, because, as you say, not every area needs the same project. It's good that we consider the differences from each area across our great country.

As a government and as a committee, we recognize that cyberbullying and cyberviolence have a devastating impact on Canadian youth and their families. There is evidence to support the fact that more often than not the victims who experience the cyberviolence are at a higher risk of experiencing depression and anxiety as a result. Can you please speak to what is being done to bring awareness to, and address, this issue?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Thank you very much for the question.

Similar to what you were saying, the Government of Canada has been very focused on this issue. Obviously, cyberbullying and cyberviolence have a devastating impact on families and on communities, and particularly on those specific individuals that are affected.

I know that for young girls in my own constituency of in Simcoe—Grey, this is a top of mind concern. In our new girls advisory committee, the young ladies who have put themselves forward to aid us in making good decisions have raised this as one of the top three issues they would like addressed.

We know there is emerging evidence that girls and young women who are victims of cyberviolence experience depression and anxiety. Obviously these are great concerns. We have been focused on a number of initiatives with the Government of Canada. The Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act was put forward, but in addition to that Status of Women Canada has worked hand in glove with Public Safety to create programming to support that act.

Last year we launched a call for proposals. Those are now being disseminated across the country, to focus specifically on community based projects that will support young women and girls to combat cyberviolence and sexual assaults. The focus for us has been particularly on those campus aged individuals. It goes hand in glove, in addition to the act, with our program dollars coupled with the stop hating online campaign run by Public Safety to make Canadians aware of these issues.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you.

The economic action plan of 2015 focuses on economic development, families, and communities. Furthermore, it supports women and their families to apply.

Minister, can you please highlight some of the great things EAP 2015 is doing for families and for women.

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

The economic action plan has been very focused on families. The most substantive things have all been focused around making sure that funds are put back in the pockets of parents. We have been very focused. As I mentioned before, this government has lowered taxes multiple times. It has lowered the GST from 7%, to 6%, to 5%; and now through the augmentation of the universal child care benefit, the family tax cut, as well as the doubling of the children's fitness tax credit, there are opportunities for Canadian families to take that money and put it back in their pockets and make choices of where they would like to have it allocated, on either child care, opportunities for fitness for their families, or other items that are important to their families.

So I'm delighted that we're lowering taxes and increasing benefits to Canadians so they can make choices for their families.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister and Mrs. O'Neill Gordon.

Ms. Duncan, you have seven minutes.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the minister and her officials for coming today.

Minister, how do you think income splitting will affect women's economic prosperity across their lifetime? The PBO has raised some issues.

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

As I just said, we have an economic action plan 2015 that is about lowering taxes and increasing benefits for Canadians. That is a package.

With respect to the universal child care benefit, every Canadian family with a child will see an augmentation. For those who have children under the age of six, it is an increase of several hundred dollars. For those who have a child from six to seventeen, for the first time they will receive $720.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Sorry, Minister, I was asking about income splitting.

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

With respect to the family tax cut, over 50% of Canadian families will benefit from that. That's a cut in taxes, a lowering of taxes, which is something our government has been very focused on. As I mentioned earlier, this is about taking funds and putting them back in the pockets of Canadian parents so they can make choices for their families of where they think their funds should be allocated.

We have made a choice. We think that parents and families are making the best choices for their families.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

I'm sorry, Minister, I am going to move on. Thank you.

Would you be willing to table the GBA+ analysis for income splitting?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

The GBA+ for—?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Was there a GBA analysis of income splitting?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

As I said, GBA is used to assess policy. What you're asking about is a specific budget initiative, but GBA is not a program for assessment.

[Meena Ballantyne]

As the minister was saying earlier, every policy program or legislative initiative goes through a GBA analysis, which is part of the cabinet process. So every MC or Treasury Board submission to cabinet has to have that. Then Finance Canada also looks at their own analysis for GBA. But I'm not sure whether it would be—

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Yes, they would do it.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

I'm going to move on, thank you. The minister stated earlier, I believe, that GBA+ is separately funded. Is that correct?