That's your time. I'm sorry.
Evidence of meeting #109 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was female.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #109 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was female.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Mayor of Banff, As an Individual
It was the paper chain that took the time—
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thanks to both of you. You guys are just awesome. I'm a young parent, and I'm definitely going to use the paper chain trick. My daughter is two. Occasionally when I tell her on Sunday night that “Daddy's going to work this week”, she'll cry a bit, give me a kiss, and say, “Daddy back Friday?”, and I say, “Yes, I'll be back on Friday.”
There's one thing that I think could go a long way to improve things. The predictability of the schedule is awful, and it's much harder on women than it is on men, for certain biological reasons, like when you're nursing a newborn baby.
Tonight is a good example. We expect to be voting all night and potentially through to tomorrow night. I'm wondering if you think there are things that can be done from a procedural point of view, particularly in provincial legislatures and at the federal level, when you're actually pulled away to a different part of the country and you can't just jet home quickly.
You mentioned that it's nice to be in municipal politics because you're at home, but that's not an option for a lot of people who aren't based in Ottawa, for example. Do you think something could be done to say that there's going to be certainty, so that you don't end up giving four or five links in the chain only to realize that you're going to be gone for six or seven days? Do you think establishing certainty in the procedural schedule for legislative bodies would be helpful for this?
Mayor of Banff, As an Individual
Yes, absolutely.
Again, I don't think I understand your world. I understand the provincial world a bit.
That would drive me crazy. I think that's a great place for this committee, and not even just for the moms or the females but for the dads too. I know stuff happens, and I know you probably can't make everything work exactly the way you want, but all I can say is that I think that's a great suggestion. I don't know where you start or who has that conversation, but—
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
If I can interject, then, I'm agnostic towards this idea, but there was some debate around potentially removing Friday sittings so that you would know that every Thursday night you would get out. Is that something that you think would be helpful?
Mayor of Banff, As an Individual
I think it would be. Your electorate potentially will push back in another way—
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Potentially you find another solution, maybe to sit for more weeks in the year or for longer hours during the days we're here. I'm just curious. I really don't have a strong position on this.
Mayor of Banff, As an Individual
In the world we live in and with how busy everybody is, I don't care what you're doing, it's important to know what your schedule is. Again, I think that is another huge benefit of municipal politics. I know exactly when my meetings are.
Also, guess what. I actually get to call them at six o'clock. We have a rule that you don't go for more than four hours in terms of one meeting—you're looking at me like “really?”—unless all of council agrees. Sure, we may have full-day meetings, but I can pretty much tell somebody that I'm good for a beer at 6:30.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
I'm curious. With respect to the child care issue, the kids on the Hill program, which my daughter will be going to in August, doesn't have anything for kids who are younger than 18 months. I don't know what it's like in different provincial legislatures. Do you think that having on-site day care from infancy and potentially right up to school age would be a positive development that we could recommend? It would create an environment that would potentially make Parliament, legislative life, or municipal council more welcoming towards women who are thinking about running and who could get elected.
As an Individual
I think so, especially at the provincial and federal levels, absolutely. It's a little more difficult at the municipal level because we don't have set sitting days. Our schedules are sporadic, so that definitely makes it a little harder, but it's something that I would definitely encourage.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
You both talked a bit about the importance of mentoring. It's a great thing that I think everybody agrees on. I don't want to put the pressure on women to find their own mentors, although I think it's great if they do. Is there something the government could be doing to help encourage that mentoring, such as maybe supporting community organizations that actually do this sort of thing already?
Are there other suggestions you might have? We're going to make recommendations to the government saying, “You should do this”, and if you were standing in our shoes, what would you recommend the government do to increase mentoring opportunities?
Mayor of Banff, As an Individual
First of all, I think some kind of grant opportunity, particularly around campaign schools, maybe could have some benefit—
Mayor of Banff, As an Individual
—and yes, even an online course.
I had another thought but I forget it.
Did you have anything else to add, Jenelle?
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Please feel free to follow up and get back to us if it comes to you.