Mr. Speaker, I had the honour and pleasure of beginning my speech before question period. I had the opportunity to spend two minutes talking about improving women's economic security, which the Liberal Party's motion addresses.
To sum up, I said that in the Conservative Party's 2005-06 election platform, the word “woman” appeared only twice. The first time, it referred to women as victims, and the second, as mothers. I said that women are more than victims or mothers. For example, during question period, it seemed to me that the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages talked about status of women in terms of victims and women with disabilities.
We are not just victims, women with disabilities or mothers. In Quebec and Canada, we are also workers. Much remains to be done to improve the status of women as workers. The first thing I would like to talk about is pay equity.
In Quebec, since 1996, the Pay Equity Act has corrected the salary gaps resulting from gender-based discrimination. Too often, men and women do not receive the same pay, as I will illustrate in a few moments. This disparity still exists at the federal level. The Bloc Québécois wants to see new, separate and proactive pay equity legislation for workers governed by the Canada Labour Code.
We know that the income of women is lower than that for men. In 2003, the average annual income for women 16 years of age and older was $24,400, while men earned an average of $39,300, putting women’s income at 62% of men’s. That is not right. For equal work, people should receive equal pay.
In the years prior to 2003, the situation was even worse. However, we see that there has been a slight improvement. The average income for women in 2003 was 13% higher than in 1997. That means the gap was not quite as wide, but that was scarcely better and still not very good.
Moreover, we see that more women than men are attending university and that should have an effect on income. However, such is not the case. Among young women, the gap has been reduced but there is still a difference, even though they are better educated. In constant 2000 dollars, the average income of men who attended university was $45,054 in 2001 while the average for women was $36,782.
What about the income tax cuts in the Conservatives economic statement this week? They do not in any way improve the situation of women. On the contrary, they increase gender inequality. The Conservatives have proven once again that they are incapable of being concerned about the living conditions of women. On one hand, they have cut funding to almost all women’s organizations, some of which have had to close their doors. We are talking about women’s organizations that are dedicated to promoting the status of women. What is more, this week, the Conservatives made cuts that affect women more than men.
In fact, women will receive a smaller income tax reduction than men because we know that men earn more than women do. As a result, two single people whose only difference is their gender will not receive the same income tax reduction at the lowest level. The reduction of the minimum rate from 15.5% to 15% means that a single male will have an additional $113 in 2007. However, a single woman in the same bracket will have only $53 more in the same taxation year. That amounts to less than half the amount for a man.
It really is a shame. It shows once again that the Conservatives are doing nothing to improve the status of women. that they do not understand and that they do not care. They are doing absolutely nothing to reduce the salary gap between men and women.
As I said, Quebec passed proactive legislation back in 1996. It requires employers to have a policy on pay equity. With the federal legislation under the Canada Labour Code, women have to lodge a complaint. So a woman who is all by herself, not organized, in a union or not, has to get up good and early in order to take on her employer and all her employer’s lawyers to demand more equity. The result is that very few women take up the struggle, and if they do so, it is through their union. Even then, they are not out of the woods.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, one of the largest unions in the country, battled the government for nearly 20 years for pay equity. It was thanks to its former president Nicole Turmel, an extraordinary woman, that the union finally won. However, it took 20 years of legal proceedings for these women to win their struggle for pay equity. It took 15 years for the telephone operators at Bell Canada. The struggle at Canada Post has been going on for 24 years and still is not over. The employer has decided to appeal to the highest levels.
What can a woman do against the army of lawyers that employers like Canada Post, Bell Canada or the federal government can throw at her? It is David and Goliath all over again. It does not make any sense, and that is why the Government of Canada should put pay equity legislation into the Canada Labour Code. In this way, women would not have to go out individually to seek their rights.
I see I have a minute left. The anti-strikebreaker legislation would also help women, as would legislation on psychological harassment and protective re-assignment. The Bloc Québécois already introduced a bill to this effect in May 2005.
In conclusion, it is not true that the Conservative government cannot do anything in the face of so much inequality between men and women in the workplace and in their incomes. The Conservatives should be roundly condemned for the way in which they have behaved toward status of women organizations.
In the meantime, the Bloc Québécois supports the Liberal motion and I will personally take great pleasure in voting for it.