Thank you very much for the opportunity to share our recommendations with you. The clerk has distributed a copy to all of you.
We thought we'd write it down so you'd at least have a chance to look at it. We're not going to deal with the problems, but we wanted to be very concrete in our presentation and give you some ideas of where we think there should be systemic change, which, in fact, in the long run will bring down the barriers for more women wanting to get into politics.
For those who don't know, when I got elected at 39 years of age, I had two young children of one and a half and three and a half. There's a big barrier that women keep bringing up to me all the time because the whole face of Parliament has changed. A younger generation has come forward, men and women, I'd like to say, and most of them would like to be parents. One of the greatest barriers we find is the way that Parliament accommodates those families.
There is, of course, a day care, but we are recommending more.
In our document, we say that we must find a balance between work and family and accommodate those who want to have their children looked after on Parliament Hill.
We ask that after-hours child care on the Hill be expanded for infants and toddlers. Often, parliamentarians are forced to sit late in the evening. Last night, for example, they finished voting at midnight. If a member has a young child, what will she do with it if her husband or someone else is not here to care for it?
We're recommending that we extend child care, and also that we have a parliamentary schedule that will in fact accommodate children.
The second recommendation we're making is to extend the leave from the House of Commons for female MPs who become parents to 60 days. At the moment, as you all know, it's only 21-day leave, which we believe does not really permit a new mother or father to be able to work. Obviously, they're working from their riding and constituency, because I don't think there's any time off for any member of Parliament, no matter what their personal circumstances may be. I've always said that it isn't a job to be a member of Parliament; it is a commitment and a public service. I think that extending it to 60 days would permit for a little more leeway to enjoy the first few months of their newborn's life.
We also want to enable virtual participation and voting in parliamentary committee meetings because we have the technology now. In my time, the technology was a little rough, but I think you can now accommodate voting. You can accommodate testimony. You can accommodate participation. We'd like to have a little more opportunity for new parents to be able to vote from their constituency and actually participate in committees, if they are unable to travel to the House pre- and post-birth. The new technology would permit that.
We would also like to reduce the travel obligation for expectant MPs and new mothers by introducing the accommodation we recommend, that is, is enabling them to do it virtually, along with other adjustments to the schedule,
I'll pass it over to Nancy.