House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2015, with 33% of the vote.
Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL February 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's speech. What I am especially hearing from others—and certainly the UN Security Council resolution reinforced this—is that if we can stem the flow of foreign radicals going overseas that complicates this fight in the first place, we will all be better off and further ahead.
Can the member please describe what attempts the Liberal government is making to fight radicalization efforts right here at home in Canada?
Financial Administration Act February 16th, 2016
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-220, an act to amend the Financial Administration Act (balanced representation).
Mr. Speaker, today, New Democrats again propose legislation to require that the Government of Canada have balanced appointments, men and women, on federal crown corporation boards.
Last week, I met with the Nanaimo Port Authority, a fantastic, dynamic, professional board, with more women than men. Sadly, this is the exception in Canada. Women make up only 27% of federal appointments to crown corporation boards in this country. That is not acceptable. These agencies are missing out on the professionalism, the advice, and the wisdom of Canadian women.
Therefore, we are proposing concrete action to ensure the equality of men and women on crown corporation boards.
The bill carries forward the work of former MP Anne-Marie Day and the member for London—Fanshawe, who proposed this legislation in the previous session. It was voted down by the Conservatives two years ago.
Canada's government should use the power that it has to recognize women's contributions to the economy. Crown corporation boards should be gender balanced.
Actions speak louder than words.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Canada Shipping Act, 2001 February 4th, 2016
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-219, An Act to amend the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (wreck).
Mr. Speaker, for too long, coastal communities have been given the runaround when an abandoned vessel washes up on their shorelines or enters their harbours.
I worked with a community organization in Galiano that, for 10 years, tried to find a government ministry that would take responsibility. If it is a hazard to navigation, it is one department. If it is an oil spill, it is another. If it is maybe going to sink but is not yet an oil spill, no one will touch it. If it washes on the shoreline, maybe it is the provincial crown. It is frustrating. It is creating environmental problems and great economic uncertainty, especially for beautiful communities in my riding like Nanaimo and Ladysmith that have made significant investments in their waterfront. They now have the interference of unsightly and polluting vessels drifting in their harbour.
I rise with my colleague the member for Salaberry—Suroît to propose once again the bill that former member of Parliament Jean Crowder brought to the House. It was supported by the Liberals but defeated by the Conservatives. We ask Parliament to work together to designate the Coast Guard to be one-stop shopping, so we can eliminate this uncertainty and resolve this problem once and for all for coastal communities.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Business of Supply February 2nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I am so happy to hear this astonishing change in tone from the Conservative bench. Clearly voters have sent a different brand of Conservative to the House. I appreciate very much the strong statements of support for pay equity. I too would like to see the members all support this motion unanimously.
Let me say a couple of things to try to help them get there.
The first point is that we have not had pay equity in legislation for Canada in all this time, so we need section (c), which is implementing the recommendations of the pay equity task force report. If we do not vote in favour of that, nothing happens. We have to move there.
I appreciate that some members are saying they do not agree that they took away the right to pay equity in the public service. They are going to have more members on the committee than the NDP will, and they can argue that point and make that recommendation to Parliament.
The third point is that using the status of women committee over all these decades, with all this great work, did not get the job done. We need a single focus, a specific mandate, a one-track focus for this committee so we can get this done well.
My question for the member is that with those, I hope, persuasive reassurances, is it possible for the members to my right to support the motion and finally close the wage gap for women in Canada?
Business of Supply February 2nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I am hopeful we will have more opportunities to talk some of these issues through on one committee or another. I look forward to the conversation.
Last night, I heard a presentation from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. It described what happened at times of economic downturn or uncertainty in relation to the strength of a woman's wage, that when women were well-paid for equal work of equal value, it could create a buffer when we had resource downturns. Families do better when both partners are doing well.
I also heard that there was some concern with infrastructure investments, that they may more go toward the male side of employment if they were in the traditional pipes, infrastructure and road construction.
I am curious if the minister has anything to share in relation to social infrastructure investments that will ensure that government spending over the next few years will benefit women and do what we can to improve the wage gap.
Business of Supply February 2nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General's report, released this morning, suggested that concrete policies are needed. It is clear that the Conservatives' commitment to gender-based analysis was simply non-existent over the last term of government, so very little progress was made here since the last audit in 2009. Six departments that had committed to implementing the government-wide gender-based analysis departmental action plan implemented no gender-based analysis at all.
Twenty years of encouragement from the Status of Women ministry, encouraging departments to take steps to integrate gender-based analysis into their ministries' work, has not had the effect we needed.
Can we expect the Minister of Status of Women to take an active role in overseeing the implementation of proactive legislation as laid out in our motion today?
Business of Supply February 2nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, we do not consent. Removing the section on implementing the task force recommendations and asking for the committee to advise Parliament on how to make that implementation would remove any real action from the motion. It would put us right back to where we were 40 years ago. We do not consent.
Business of Supply February 2nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged to hear the comments from my colleagues, the member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country and the Treasury Board president.
I was feeling nervous about the government's commitment because pay equity was not in the Liberal election platform. It was not in the mandate letter to Minister of Status of Women. With the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act not being included in the list of bad Conservative labour bills that were announced to be withdrawn, we were feeling nervous.
Does the member intend to support our motion to implement pay equity, and get this done once and for all?
Business of Supply February 2nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague. The rationale, first, is that this is a broader issue than simply the status of women. This is a nationwide economic issue. It is not just about women. It is about all of us. The second more technical reason is that the status of women committee, on which the member and I both sit, will decide its own agenda and priorities and has a lot of big work to do.
If Parliament does agree with New Democrats that we should give a particular committee a focused task, then it is sure to be at the top of its agenda. The issue will get the profile it deserves and we will be able to move forward more quickly. It may be that its membership ends up being identical. Who knows. We certainly considered the recommendation the member is making, and this is a better way to move forward.
Business of Supply February 2nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, we have been waiting such a long time in this country that we want to establish this as a priority of Parliament and start to move forward toward finally making real change in this area.
I commend the Prime Minister for his cabinet appointment decisions, but we cannot rely on the particular goodwill of a particular government at one point in time. We must legislate pay equity. That would then fan out to the provinces and across the country. This is going to require partnership, but without leadership from the federal government we will remain where we are with a significant pay gap of 23%.
We hope that Parliament will choose to task a committee with this work. It will then be up to the committee to decide its own scope and who it needs to hear from. We have experts across the country in provinces that have implemented pay equity who can describe the experience. We have experts who can tell us about the realities of what this gap is costing the country. There is great wealth for us to draw on.