Status of Women Committee on Nov. 9th, 2017

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Thank you very much for the presentation.

I'll start with our guests who didn't make a presentation today, particularly because of a timely story that's in the news with respect to certain EI changes that are hot off the press. One of them is a bit personal to me, so I apologize in advance if I get a bit emotional.

A year and a half ago, my daughter was born very prematurely. She weighed just a little over two pounds, and spent about three months in the hospital. One of the programs that was a massive help to my family was the benefits for parents of critically ill children.

With today's change, I understand that the benefits will be accessible by family members who may not be parents of the child who is critically ill. Could you give us some thoughts on how this program will allow parents, and in particular new mothers who are going through an exceptionally difficult personal time, to potentially rejoin the workforce earlier than might otherwise be the case?

[Kristen Underwood, Acting Senior Director, Employment Insurance Policy, Department of Employment and Social Development]

As you pointed out, the parents of critically ill children program was extended in budget 2017, and further announcements are being made about it now. The EI family caregiver benefit, which is the new name for the program, will provide benefits for families, as you mentioned, for parents but also other family members. It is being extended to 35 weeks. It will allow not only parents, but also aunts, uncles, grandparents, and other people to share the benefit during the benefit period and create some flexibility, so that not only parents but families are supported to look after children, if they need to.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

One other area that I think we'd be remiss not to focus on is the Canada child benefit. I recognize that this may bleed into the Department of Finance's portfolio as well.

I come from a predominantly rural area, and there may not be access to physical child care centres. One thing we've heard from other witnesses who testified on the issue of access to child care in smaller communities is that having some flexibility—the extra $20 to put towards a nanny in a private home—is something that is very helpful to women, particularly to entrepreneurs who don't have a set schedule.

Can you elaborate on the impact the Canada child benefit has had on promoting women in the economy and the workforce?

[Kristen Underwood]

It's not really my spot to talk about the Canada child benefit. I can say that it complements other programs.

Do you want to talk about it, Jonathan?

[Jonathan Will]

Thank you very much. I'll take that part of the question.

The Canada child benefit, which started in July 2016, replaced the existing Canada child tax benefit and national child care benefit supplement and the universal child care benefit with a single monthly payment for families with children under the age of 18. This benefit is simpler, more generous, and better targeted, so that nine out of 10 families are better off than under the former suite of programs.

Specifically in terms of your question about impact, this has resulted in about 300,000 fewer children living in poverty, which represents a reduction of about 40% in child poverty.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Thank you very much.

Shifting gears to the topic of housing, right now in budget 2017 we've announced $11 billion, I believe, towards housing. Could you highlight some of the measures that are gender-specific with respect to the housing plan? I appreciate that all the details may not be public yet, but to the extent that you can shine a light on the direction in which we're going with respect to specific gender measures in the housing strategy, that would be helpful.

[Jonathan Will]

I can speak to the general measures, but they benefit both men and women. Some benefit women more than men, and vice versa for others.

There are two initiatives that the government has launched. One is the national housing strategy. It has been established to ensure that more Canadians have access to housing that meets their needs and that they can afford. In support of this, budget 2016 proposed to invest $11.2 billion over 11 years, starting in 2017-18, in a variety of initiatives designed to build, renew, and repair the stock of affordable housing to ensure that Canadians have affordable housing.

In addition, through the homelessness partnership strategy, the government has announced an extension of $2.5 billion over the next 11 years. This is a unique community-based program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness by providing direct support and funding to 61 designated communities in all provinces and territories.

As I said, these programs will benefit both men and women. They are not specifically gender things, but some situations women find themselves in more, and vice versa.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Building on that, we've heard testimony, I believe in this study and in one of our previous studies on gender-based violence, about the incredible negative impact a survivor of domestic violence may experience in terms of future ability to participate fully in the Canadian economy.

Will the housing strategy include specific measures designed for transition shelters, for example, to help women who have been the victims of domestic violence get their feet under them so that they can participate more fully in Canadian life?

[Jonathan Will]

I don't have that information available. We could get back to you, for sure.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I would appreciate it.

Very quickly, Ms. McRae, one thing you mentioned that jumped off the page I was following along on was the potential impact of $150 billion in GDP if we were to promote gender equity in the Canadian economy. With some of the measures you discussed, BDC, for example, and some of our international measures and the composition of corporate boards, do you have confidence that we're going to be moving towards capitalizing on this extraordinary economic opportunity by achieving greater equity in the Canadian workforce?

[Frances McRae]

Thank you for the question.

One of the things I would like to point out is that we've been talking about an objective of increasing the numbers of women entrepreneurs. We actually have a public objective about that. We've set a target to double the number of SMEs that are majority-owned by women to arrive at approximately 340,000 by 2025 from a baseline that we had in 2014 of 174,000. We believe that with that target we will be able to capitalize on the opportunity.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Fantastic. Thank you very much.

We're now going to Sylvie Boucher for seven minutes.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Hello everyone.

I have to admit I am a bit surprised. I am used to working with other committees where the work is much less partisan, so I am having a hard time getting my bearings today.

Ms. McRae, you said earlier that there are not very many women entrepreneurs. That is indeed the case. Have you ever tried to understand why these women do not want to go into business?

We know that women are much less present in business than men. Is that related to their family situation?

We also have the same problem in politics. We cannot attract women, and that is not necessarily because of the political party or some other reason. As a member of Parliament myself, I try to recruit women into politics, and I see that it is also difficult in business. Have you ever evaluated the situation or conducted a study to identify the reasons that women do not want to go into business?

[Frances McRae]

Thank you for your question.

There have been various studies on that. The truth is that there is not just one reason; there are many. We know in particular that some women have many family commitments.

I think the research by BDC will give us some very helpful answers and might explain why women do not approach the Bank as often. The research shows that women are not always aware of the available sources of support. That is part of the answer. BDC also noted that women often arrive with a very detailed business plan, but do not really want to start a business without being sure that everything is complete. The male entrepreneurs who approach the BCD, on the other hand, are more likely to be seeking help in developing a business plan. There is no specific reason for this. I think the BDC's data show there are various reasons.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Have you considered the fact that many women start their businesses at home and manage stand-alone businesses, as they are known?

Given the current partisan context, will the Liberal Party help these women?

[Frances McRae]

If I understand your question correctly, we are talking about women entrepreneurs who work from home. Is that correct?

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Yes. Is there a program for those women?

[Frances McRae]

Women actually create various types of businesses. The majority of women do nonetheless create home-based businesses, primarily for lifestyle reasons. In many cases, they want to be at home to have more flexibility.

As to the support we give those women entrepreneurs, I must say that they have access to the same programs as all entrepreneurs, the purpose of which is to help them succeed in business.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Would you like to share your time? You have an additional two minutes and 13 seconds.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Do you have a question?

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Thank you very much.

I just have a couple of comments, and perhaps I'll get an opportunity later.

I think this is really critical. I have a math and science background. I was a high school math and physics teacher for 34 years. The discussion has to do with the new opportunities, the coding, and everything else that has been described. These are things that.... I remember when I started, which was before Bill Gates.

There are a lot of different aspects to it, and things that are engaged in education. One of the critical parts right now is that as more and more people are finding ways of working from home, and with the disruptive technologies that are out there, those who are able to catch on to that new wave are the ones who are really going to excel.

My wife was so much smarter than I am, and I always wanted to make sure that she was uppermost in all the business decisions we made.

I know I don't have much time because I'm just filling in. Maybe I'll come back later.

I really think it's the mentorship part that we have to look at. Is there any comment on the types of mentorship issues or solutions that you have seen in the industry so far?

[Frances McRae]

I can comment on what ISED is doing to encourage more young women in science and STEM, which I think is at the root of your question. I'm going to talk about it in two aspects.

I mentioned CanCode earlier, the program that was launched. That program actually saw a very high rate of application. We had 81 applications to that program after the call for proposals. The process of making decisions about what gets funded will unfold.

I would like to comment on the science side of things. We are taking steps to deal with gender and diversity inequities in the scientific community, most recently by instituting new equity requirements into programs such as the Canada research chairs and the Canada excellence research chairs programs.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

[Inaudible—Editor] continue with that. He will have an additional five minutes very shortly.

As we carry on, next is Rachel Blaney for seven minutes.