Mr. Speaker, on March 4 of this year, the United Nations expressed severe criticism concerning the status of Canadian women. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women calls on the Canadian government to intervene rapidly to stop the rising tide of discrimination against women in Quebec and Canada.
The United Nations committee spotlights the damaging effects on girls and women of the cuts to social programs over the past decade. They are the first people affected by the Liberal government's slashing of funding.
The UN committee says it is astonished that in a country as rich as Canada, 54% of single mothers, 43% of first nations women, 37% of women of colour, and 48% of new immigrant women are poor.
It is intolerable that women should bear the brunt of government cuts. We in the Bloc Quebecois deplore this government's deliberate weakening of women's living conditions in recent years.