Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Auditor General reported that the federal government is continuing to drag its feet on bringing in a new gender neutral system of job classification and evaluation for its employees, and, in fact, seems to be heading backward. Women in the public service are left for the foreseeable future with a 40 year old system that discriminates against them.
According to the Auditor General, “Canadians should be very concerned”.
The federal government sets the tone and the pace for all of Canada on ending wage discrimination against women and its pay equity message has been appalling.
Unions even had to drag the government to the Canadian Human Rights Commission for a pay equity settlement that it resisted all the way. The government's pay equity message to other employers is to resist and delay.
Canadian women expect leadership but are getting hostility.
With the Auditor General and the United Nations already on its case, what will it take for the Liberal government to get pro-active and out front on the vital issue of pay equity and discrimination against women and begin setting a positive tone for the rest of Canadian society to follow?