Mr. Speaker, nothing I heard yesterday or today reassures me.
Status of Women Canada has the expertise in gender-based analysis, GBA, and this was recognized by Treasury Board and other departments. However, Status of Women Canada lacks any real power to force departments to perform GBA.
Treasury Board fully admits that it has the ability, the tools and leverage needed to enforce GBA within the federal government, yet it refuses to change practices and document the challenge function. The government seems to feel a verbal discussion is all that is needed.
I want to point out that the Auditor General did not find this at all sufficient and was very suspicious of the verbal discussion, as almost all discussions between Treasury Board and the departments are done through email therefore leaving some sort of paper trail. Treasury Board insisted there was no paper trail. With no paper trail, there is no accountability.
Why does the government keep insisting on accountability when there is nothing? When is it going to put in a gender-based analysis that we can be assured of?