Status of Women Committee on May 24th, 2018

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

When someone applies for this funding then, are they being held accountable with regard to whether or not they are delivering, and if so, how?

[Anik Lapointe]

We have departmental results for which we have to report on our spending at year end, and the estimates process is for the whole amount that Status of Women is receiving.

I think Nancy wants to add to that.

[Nancy Gardiner]

I can add just a little bit. When organizations apply for funding, there is a requirement in terms of what results they will achieve, which are outlined in agreements that organizations sign. Once an organization receives an amount of money from government, there is a process where there is an assessment. There is a review. We do monitoring based on the risk of projects. For organizations, it's really clear in the agreements that they sign what results they are to achieve and what the deliverables are. That's what project officers in our department would work with organizations to ensure is being delivered.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Okay. Specifically with regard to the $1.9 million that's going to a national conversation on gender equality with young Canadians, can you break down for me how this money will be spent in order to pull this off and what your measurables are?

[Nancy Gardiner]

At this point, as I said earlier, we're in the process of figuring out what that actual project is going to look like and how it's actually going to be achieved. That money would be broken down specifically, as Anik said, to be used for that specific project. We're not able to use that money for other things. It would be to enable young people to attend and to hire facilitators. It's that type of support that will be required to carry out that project.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Okay. Would the same be true for engaging men and boys? Are there metrics there? Is there a way of measuring the results?

[Lisa Smylie]

Just adding to my colleague's previous response, there are metrics. There are performance indicators that we commit to with every initiative, and more to your point, in terms of metrics, there are targets as well that are committed to in terms of those indicators.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

We're going to take our last five minutes with Bernadette.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I'm transferring my time to Pam, please.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Fantastic. What I'm going to do, because we'll have excess time, is to give each group one question each, just so we can use our time efficiently.

Go ahead, Pam.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Thanks, Chair.

A few months ago I held a roundtable in my riding with women entrepreneurs. Minister Chagger came down and we had a conversation about some of the challenges they faced in terms of running their own businesses. We heard about challenges with financing.

One of the things I heard about was scaling up their businesses. They seemed to feel they had support to start their businesses but they needed some support to scale up their businesses. When I saw the budget I was really quite pleased with a number of measures that were in there that spoke directly to what those women around the table had said to me. I wonder if you could just elaborate on some of the many measures that were in that budget supporting women who are running their own small businesses.

[Nancy Gardiner]

It is an area that we hear a lot about, in terms of the challenges women face with regard to being entrepreneurs.

We are working closely with our partners at ISED to focus on the women entrepreneurship initiative and strategy that was announced in budget 2018.

Really, there are two pillars that focus on helping their businesses grow. Women-led business growth is really important, and allowing women to have the skills they need is something that you heard about in your round table and something we've heard over and over again. Increasing access to capital is another area that has been a problem and an issue for young women starting their own businesses, so that is something that is going to be allowed or focused on through ISED, through BDC.

Innovation is another area, so the third pillar is improving access to federal business innovation programming. Really looking at how under-represented groups are accessing this is really important. We have heard also that in terms of entrepreneurship, it is an area of draw for indigenous women because it allows not only indigenous women but women generally to create that balance between family and....

Data knowledge is the fourth pillar that they're focusing on. It will allow women to basically have access to best practices and to share data to enable them to succeed in starting up their businesses. We're looking forward to that work with them.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

I know there was a specific in there about the Business Development Bank and some of the things they're doing. Do you have any information on that? We had testimony at committee here about women who go to get a loan, and they're asked if their husband can co-sign for them. It's certainly been a challenge for women to obtain that financing in the first place.

[Nancy Gardiner]

It has. It's definitely one of the pillars in terms of increasing access to capital, and BDC is providing $1.4 billion in financing, which is a first of its kind, and increasing the women in technology fund to $200 million, up from $70 million. Both those pieces and measures would enable women to have a larger access to that capital. It's not only the access to the capital, like you said, though, it's the supports that women need around that. The first pillar of that strategy is helping women allow their business to grow and to break down those barriers that they face accessing the supports and the capital that they need to start their businesses.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

There was also something in the budget for women who are running a small business to be able to share best practices and have a sort of boot camp for entrepreneurs. Maybe that is what it was called, but something along those lines, to be able to get access to the expertise that's out there.

[Nancy Gardiner]

I believe that's the fourth pillar of their strategy in terms of accessing best practices and data. They're in the process of developing that strategy at this point to see how that would work, but it is access to a boot camp. There are a lot of measures available, I think, across the country to varying degrees. Their hope is to elevate that level of expertise and information to enable all women to have access to that type of support.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We're voting on votes 1 and 5 of the main estimates.

What we're going to do is allow one member from each party to ask one question.

I would like to stay within a minute and a half for question and answer.

Ms. Quach, we're going to start with you. You have 90 seconds for one question with one answer.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

We learned that the budget would contain changes to the criteria used to award grants to community organizations. However, cabinet has not yet authorized these changes. Consequently, community organizations are having some trouble with their planning.

Can you tell us whether cabinet will approve these criteria before the end of June, so that the organizations will know what to expect before the beginning of September?

[Nancy Gardiner]

I can't say for sure.

I'm not in a position to say yes or no to that question. We'll be prepared as a department to implement the strategy to allow the money to go out the door as soon as possible.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

How is it that cabinet has not yet approved these criteria even though they are in the budget?

[Nancy Gardiner]

What was in the budget is a statement in terms of $20 million a year for five years to allow us to support the sustainability of women's organizations. Those are very broad statements, so what cabinet will approve will be more details around how that would work.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much, Ms. Quach.

I'm now going to move over to Stephanie Kusie for your 90 seconds.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you, Madame Chair.

Beyond the harassment cases that I mentioned earlier today on the other side of the House, I think it's very unfortunate that we've seen an incredible amount of disrespect towards our chair today.

I do note that a large envelope of funding has been put towards engaging men and boys to promote gender equality. How much of this $24 million will be allocated to educating the men and the boys of the Liberal caucus?

Thank you.

[Anik Lapointe]

Budget 2018 proposes to invest $1.8 million over two years, starting in 2018-19, to develop an engagement strategy for men and boys that promotes equality and pilots innovative, targeted approaches to addressing inequality.