Status of Women Committee on Feb. 25th, 2021

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Our government has moved forward on pay equity legislation because we believe in it strongly.

In terms of the timing of this, we've been acting on this from the beginning. As I said, the House of Commons had the special committee in 2016. We consulted, we did a “What We Heard Report”. In the same year, we presented the legislation and passed the legislation. What you are saying in terms of the future of women, that is about to change in terms of economy.

We are now going to put fair compensation in the pockets of women, and yes, it's going to increase their pensions, their benefits are going to be increased. This is what makes this so transformational.

We are the government that moved forward in this regard, and I am very happy about that.

Legislation was passed in 2018. We are in the midst of a pandemic, and notwithstanding that, we are still moving forward. Why? It's because we believe so strongly in this legislation, and we will continue to advocate.

This is one piece, among many, in terms of how our government is moving forward to ensure that women in the workplace are supported.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

And yet, it's still extremely slow. It it could be much faster, and it could be done with far more efficacy.

Ultimately, as both a legislator and an employer, this is again about human rights, and that has been known for a great deal of time, and there's been such slow progress. I love sloths, they are adorable, but the speed at which they move is painful, and this is actually costing women a great deal of money.

Going forward, I'm quite grateful to see that there is movement. However, I'd like to address another issue as well. For most employees who are eligible to receive this pay equity adjustment that will be seen as of the posting of pay equity plans, could you talk to this committee about whether there any plans to pay retroactively this adjustment because of the length, again, of time that it's taking.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

I completely disagree with you on the timing piece.

Again, it's transformative legislation. We have acted on this since 2015. We continue to move forward and we're going to get this right.

In terms of timing, employers have three years.

If the plan is posted before, then that's when the clock starts to run and the amounts are due.

With respect to the extra time, those are—

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I'm sorry, that's your time.

We're going to move on now to our second round of questions, starting with Ms. Sahota for five minutes.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Minister, I'm just going to build on what my colleague, MP Mathyssen, said.

The PBO report mentioned that in some instances there was a short-change of $3.00 an hour. Over their lifetime, this significantly impacts their pension, as was confirmed by the PBO.

Considering this bill was passed in 2018—three years ago—and the coming into force is still another three years away, if this were to come into force this year, this means for six years women have been making $6,000 less a year, for a total of $36,000.

Again, Minister, this was your government's legislation. How comfortable are you that women will be treated as “less than” their male counterparts under your watch?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

With all due respect, MP Sahota, we are moving forward on this so that women are compensated as fairly and equally as are men.

We have been working on this from the very beginning.

In terms of the timing piece, in three years, yes, there is additional time for companies that have more than 1% to pay to employees, but when that time runs out, the money is still owed. They're just given the extra time.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Minister—

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

This is important because this is also about job creation and preservation, and we want to ensure that companies have the—

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Minister, you're not answering my question—

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

opportunity—

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Minister—

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

to ensure that employers have the ability—

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Minister—

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

[Inaudible-Editor]

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Minister, I'm going to ask you another question. Maybe you can answer that.

The Pay Equity Act was passed in 2018, and was a piece of government legislation, meaning before it was tabled there would have been discussions with cabinet, cabinet committees and departmental officials.

One would have also thought that this would also have meant that the government would have been fully prepared for implementing the new law.

That's not to mention, as my colleague from the Bloc pointed out, that Quebec has had a provincial law on the books since 1996, meaning the federal government didn't need to necessarily reinvent the wheel.

When I asked the PBO if this should have been done sooner, he said:

It was the government's own legislation, so they knew this was coming. I'm convinced they could have drafted and implemented regulations more quickly and had an earlier coming into force. Why that was not the case, I don't know.

Minister, why was it that it took so long? We are now over three years since the legislation passed. Was it because it's easier to say you were standing up for women in the workforce than to actually do something?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Again, I disagree with your comment and the accusation that it's taken a long time. We have been working on this—

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

That's what the PBO says.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

—from the beginning.

Let me say this. I think that, when Ms. Jensen came and explained to this committee the complexity of ensuring that this legislation is implemented in a way that is going to make a difference for generations to come, you can appreciate the level of work that has gone into this. We had a special parliamentary committee. In fact, our chair sat on it. MP Sidhu sat on that committee as well, I know. That information was taken, because we don't want to rush this. This is an opportunity—

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Minister—

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

—that we have that is going to impact generations to come, so the commitment is to get it right.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

We also know that there was no commissioner until about 10 months ago. What do you have to say about that?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

No, in fact, the pay equity commissioner was appointed in 2019. Her appointment was renewed in October, and she and her team have been working very hard on compiling the tools that are needed. I have had discussions with her, and she is doing a fantastic job and is preparing the tools and the supports that are needed to ensure that employers are going to have the ability to implement this in a successful way, and that's exactly what we want.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Madam Chair, do I have time or not?

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

You have twenty seconds.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

I'll give you a chance to answer my previous question. Do you know how much this piece of legislation will cost?