Mr. Speaker, Women Deliver will take place next week in Vancouver. This month, at the status of women committee, the Minister for Women and Gender Equality described this conference as the feminist Olympics, an unfortunate comparison given the corruption there.
The minister also stated that the Government of Canada is not and never has been in the business of providing core funding for capacity building to women's organizations. Allow me to correct her. In fact, women's organizations suffered tremendously under the 2007 cuts made by Stephen Harper, and they have been struggling to stay above water ever since.
The World Economic Forum's annual gender gap ranking places Canada 16th when it comes to economic, educational, health and political equity for women. Without core funding, capacity building is impossible. By continuing to starve women of funding, team Canada will never make the podium. Women's organizations need stable and sustainable core funding to achieve equal status on the field.