Madam Speaker, it is wonderful to see you in the chair and back in Parliament today.
I am from southwestern Ontario. I have access to the Internet, which is wonderful. However, when I hold a staff meeting in my riding, and there are six of us, Cathy, who lives off Highway 73, 10 minutes south of the 401, cannot get Internet and we cannot use Zoom for our meetings. In many parts of Canada, this is not an option. When I am speaking to the member for Sarnia—Lambton, it could be in and out all the time. This past week when I was on the Internet, I missed most of Parliament because the Internet froze on a lot of people.
I look at the issues and the Status of Women is something I take with great pride. Through this pandemic, we are seeing increased abuse. We sent out $50,000, but we do not know exactly where it has gone. The human trafficking funding has been cut and is not going to be re-established until 2021. When the CERB program was established, it did not apply to GBA+, a mandatory program of the government. Therefore, I believe the problem applies to any of the COVID response plans.
When we know that women are having a totally awful experience through this pandemic, why is it okay that only some committees need to meet and not others? If our job is not important, why are we here five days a week? Should we only be here for one hour day? We have a lot to contribute. We all bring so much personal experience to contribute. Why can we not also provide the answers with our expertise and background?