Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Ms. Livengood, I have a lot of questions I would like to get through. If we could keep the answers tight it would be very helpful.
One of the things you talked about at length was access to opportunities in different professions that are typically dominated by men. I was a lawyer before I got into politics, and I saw this first-hand. I was unintentionally the direct beneficiary of the old boy's club, so to speak. There were partners at the firm who saw themselves in me. We'd meet casually; they'd give me a file, and it really helped with the partnership track. Coming out of law school it was probably fifty-fifty men and women who were hired for articling positions; at the partnership level it was at least three-quarters men, seven or eight years later in their career.
We talked a little about the “comply or explain” thing we could do to get more gender-balanced representation on corporate boards. Are there other measures we can take in the private sector to help create opportunities, formally or informally, for women to advance at that mid-level and senior portions of their career?