Mr. Speaker, as a New Democrat, I am used to fighting for fairness, and we will never stop fighting for women in our country to be treated equally. Women in Canada have been fighting for pay equity for decades and continue to receive only empty promises from the federal government. This is beyond disrespectful, and I, together with my NDP colleagues, will not stand for it.
In 1977, the federal law dealing with equal pay for work of equal value, in section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, was established, yet here we are in 2018 with statistics showing that women earn 31 cents less than men on the dollar.
Women have been waiting three years for the government to table pay equity legislation, and in this year's budget there is zero funding for its implementation. “Progressive” and “feminist” are words that mean something. They are not meant to be co-opted and manipulated for political gain.
Women have spent the last 40 years fighting, and we are done waiting. Enough is enough. It is time for the Liberal government to end the empty promises and to get pay equity done.