Mr. Speaker, it has been one year since the Special Committee on Pay Equity tabled its report, unironically entitled, “It's Time to Act”. The government's response? It will kick the can down a couple of years because women have been waiting over 40 years for this fundamental human right. What is a couple more years?
It has also completely bungled efforts to remove gender-based discrimination from the Indian Act, when indigenous women have already been waiting 50 years.
The right to equality is a cornerstone of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but sadly the government has disappointed time and time again when it comes to making things better for women. Grandiose announcements without immediate and meaningful funding do not help Canadian women today, and we are tired of waiting.
It is time for the so-called feminist government to walk its talk. It is 2017. It is time to act.