Thanks to all of you for very solid presentations, and to your counterparts from other ridings across the country.
To Melinda's point about cyber-bullying, this is a new and vicious phenomenon. Many of the politicians around this table have been subject to it in their own ways, although with the experiences of longer lives and greater experience we are probably better able to ignore some of the most vicious material that we see.
I was known as “pinhead” when I was in junior high school. I did avoid class on more than a few occasions for exactly that reason. Social media today is much more brutal and much more psychologically brutalizing. We certainly recognize that and it's something that I think we all have to address.
I would comment, Elinor, on your point about the seemingly insurmountable challenges. I came from the broadcasting industry, from journalism. I don't know how many conventions I went to in Canada where there was a panel whose members would ask, why don't we have women CEOs on these round tables? Women have become, in the broadcasting industry and in the print media—which is also my background—very senior managers, very capable executives.
However, for those ultimate positions, there is very much a quality of life consideration involved—sometimes family, but sometimes simply not wanting to get involved in these positions for the reasons we heard regarding the younger generation's not wanting to get down and dirty in what is still, in the political world, a not always pleasant environment.
I'm just wondering whether you have any thoughts on achieving that and, from your board of trade experience, whether you have any solutions. At one of the broadcasting conferences I went to—the Canadian Association of Broadcasters—when a male member of the panel, who is still a journalist today, was asked, how do we get more women CEOs in broadcasting, he said, “We'll just make them”. Obviously it's an attitude that shouldn't fly. I'm just wondering what your thoughts on that might be.