Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Calgary Confederation.
I am pleased to stand to discuss Bill C-25, an act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act, the Canada Cooperatives Act, the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act, and the Competition Act. The proposed amendments to the act cover a variety of objectives, but today I would like to focus on the proposal of the bill relating to the increased representation of women, as well as diversity, on corporate boards and in senior management.
Referring to the report that was completed by the Government of Canada advisory board, and provided to the minister of status of women in 2013, there was a new focus put forward to increase the representation of women on Canadian boards, with a national goal of 30% of women by 2019.
The report was titled “Good for Business: a Plan to Promote More Women on Canadian Boards”. In relation to the report, Michael Cooper, the COO from Dream Unlimited Corp., stated in The Globe and Mail in 2014:
Everything we do in this area we do with a mercenary attitude to enhance our own benefits and profitability, and I think that’s what makes it sustainable...I wonder where the other leaders are that they don’t know successful women.
It is important to note that while women now represent nearly half the Canadian workforce, they only hold 20.8% of board positions at Canadian stock index companies.
The program, “It Starts with One – Be Her Champion” was launched in 2014 by the minister of status of women. Leaders in all fields were encouraged to make a difference.
I remember that week quite well. As everyone knows, when we put forward bills and motions, the Government of Canada usually provides a little portfolio. My former boss, Joe Preston, came home to the riding and provided me with the information to do some work around the community. I told Joe that it was great he was doing this for me. I look at him as one of those guys, one of those champions for us.
Therefore, today I want to speak about how men and women together have done things like that. Joe, once he became a member of Parliament, hired a managing partner for his business. Marcy Pearse, from the St. Thomas area, has become one of the most successful Wendy's owners in Canadian history, and has only increased the productivity of the Wendy's corporation in St. Thomas. I know it is her extreme leadership and her great work ethic that has made that a dream for her.
I also look at myself. I had the opportunity of working as an executive assistant. I was always given a very long leash, and I was rarely pulled in for discussions. It is because of people believing in me and giving me that mentorship that today I am able to sit in the House of Commons.
Those are just some things I wanted to discuss because it is really about the grassroots level of what we can do.
Referring back to the report “Good for Business”, there was a summary of recommendations. I will read these recommendations because they should be on the record. These are very important facts. The report was given to the minister of status of women back in 2013. The recommendations are:
The following summary of recommendations is influenced by best practices, from across Canada and internationally, and informed by the experience and expertise of the Advisory Council for Promoting Women on Boards members. Based on these factors, the Council is offering the following recommendations for the Government of Canada.
1. Aspire to 30% over five years (2014-2019) as a reasonable national goal to achieve gender balance, with the longer term goal being gender balance on boards.
This initiative was started in 2014. The recommendations continue:
2. The Advisory Council encourages the Government of Canada to: Build on past progress and work towards greater gender balance in its own appointments; Monitor and report on gender diversity in Governor-in-Council (GIC) appointments; Simplify and promote the GIC process; Ensure greater participation in the recruitment of women to leadership positions and GIC appointments by working with Government agencies, including the leadership of Crown Corporations; and Promote networking and mentoring between public and private sector corporations.
3. Institute a “comply or explain” approach for moving publicly traded companies toward an identified goal within published annual reports, with an explanation of results or lack thereof.
4. Promote increased representation of women on boards by mobilizing and working with key stakeholders, including prominent Chairs, Financial Post (FP) 500 companies, national business associations, shareholder groups and advocacy organizations. It would be advantageous and critical to work towards:
Adopting a strong commitment, sound implementation strategies and reporting mechanisms, while maintaining flexible approaches;
Making gender balance on boards a priority to be advanced by board governance through policies, human resources, and board recruitment and nomination committees; and
On any of the boards I have joined or have been part of in the last 10 years, those are the steps we have seen within our own community, in the Elgin—Middlesex—London area. We recognize that the work and diversity of the group brings greater results. It is important to get different ideas and opinions from a diversity of women and men, young and old.
The recommendations continue to state:
Encouraging nomination and recruitment committees and executive search firms to ensure that equal numbers of qualified women and men candidates are presented for consideration for board vacancies.
5. Develop a coordinated pan-Canadian approach by working with provincial and territorial governments.
6. Support the adoption of short- and medium-term goals in the private and public sectors, recognizing that some sectors are further ahead than others.
7. Publicly traded companies should establish and publish, through annual financial statements, two- and five-year goals...
8. Publicly traded companies should report and explain annual results against their goals, reinforced as required by regulatory authorities...
9. Launch a national initiative led by the Government of Canada, to encourage the private sector to attain gender-balanced boards.
10. Develop a sustained and deliberate communications strategy to mobilize all relevant stakeholders
11. Encourage private companies to emulate publicly traded companies and undertake similar measures to increase representation of women on boards.
I know reading 11 points can be quite excruciating, but as I indicated, it is important we get that on record in the House of Commons. The report was done in 2013, and we were very proud to accept it from the advisory board. We saw action taken by our minister of status of women in 2014 with that initiative in mind.
Meanwhile there was an in-depth rational approach to these recommendations, specifically based on the progress of women not only in business and the labour force, but increased performance in levels of success and education and, more specific, in business and management programs.
Unfortunately, when we look at statistics from 2012, we will find some very surprising statistics. Therefore, some of these initiatives are important. We should put that at front of mind.
At one time, only 10.3% of women were on Canadian boards; 15.9% of Fortune 500 companies included zero on 40% of those boards; and 31% of federal GIC appointments.
We know from just sitting in the House of Commons the diversity of many of our female members and their incredible success. I am proud to sit in the House with a female engineer, an orthopaedic pediatric surgeon, a former associate dean from New Brunswick, a family physician, a provincial government whip, a college athletic director, lawyers, wonderful teachers, classically trained pianists, and many more. We have such diversity here, and we can show what great work we can do.
Turning to the need to update the ability of corporations to communicate by other methods, that is another very important thing. Here as members of Parliament, we can attest about electronic communications in our day-to-day operations, whether it is informing members of a vote, notice of meetings, or providing background information on bills. Electronic communication has become a way of life.
By providing corporations that ability to permit notice and access systems, we are providing them the same opportunities that we have as parliamentarians. We all know we cannot live without our BlackBerrys, our smart phones, and our iPads. This has become the way of busy individuals. By allowing the electronic communication, it will allow us, in a more active way, to communicate with our memberships, those corporations, and allow people to know what is going on. It is just a better way of communicating.
With over 270,000 federally incorporated corporations, this bill and the studies that have been completed over the past several years, these amendments are necessary. The modernization of Canada's federal corporate governance, as announced in budget 2015, is necessary. Key stakeholders are onside with Bill C-25, including the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance and the Canadian Board Diversity Council.
I thank the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development for introducing Bill C-25, something many parliamentarians will recognize from our previous government.
I support this bill and support the efforts in it to provide a Canadian federal framework that is up to date and will provide support for long-term investments and, overall, contribute to Canada's economic growth. The bill would provide the tools to ensure that Canada would be aligned internationally with the best practices, including the report for good business.