Excellent. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being with us today.
My first question evolves from the changes to the parental leave provisions. I am a new parent who welcomed a daughter into the world not too long after the 2015 election, but the problem is much broader than my own family's experience. There are so many families who, because of the way our society has developed over the course of the past 150 years, have put the responsibilities of child-rearing predominantly on the mother in a two-parent household. Of course, when you take time out of the workforce, this can put at risk your ability to climb the ladder in whatever your profession may be and, at the same time, shift the burden disproportionately toward women.
One of the changes you raised in your opening remarks was the “use it or lose it” five-week benefit. I'm curious how you think this change will inspire men to take on a greater share of child-rearing responsibilities and how it will allow women to rejoin the workforce more quickly so they can get back onto their career paths and participate at the same level as men.