Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and thank you for allowing me to come on such short notice.
I'm thrilled to be able to be here. I've brought with me my incredible team from Status of Women to answer the really difficult questions, as they are training me up.
Without further ado, I'll get started.
Thank you for the invitation to appear before this committee on the Status of Women Canada's main estimates, our report on plans and priorities for the fiscal year 2016-17, and the supplementary estimates (C) for the fiscal year 2015-16. It's a pleasure to be here again.
Joining me today are Meena Ballantyne, head of the Status of Women of Canada; Linda Savoie, the senior director general for the women's program; and Anik Lapointe, the chief financial officer and the director of corporate services.
First I'll talk about the main estimates for 2016-17. The main estimates provide Status of Women Canada with $31.7 million to carry out its work, which is outlined in more detail in the 2016-17 report on plans and priorities. This $31.7 million represents 0.01%—I want to highlight that—of the approximate $288 billion in overall total government spending. In government terms, it's essentially like five bucks.