Terry Duguid

[Status of Women, April 9th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's intervention. However, I am going to focus on the question the hon. member put to this House, according to the rules of the adjournment debate, and speak about gender equality and the place of women in this House.

I am very pleased to highlight the many ways our government is putting gender equality at the heart of its decision-making, because our government knows that when we invest in women, we grow the middle class and strengthen the economy for everyone.

Since the first days of this government, our Prime Minister has showed incredible leadership and put equal representation at the forefront by appointing the first gender-balanced cabinet in Canada's history. Our Prime Minister knows that women must have more than just a seat at the table.

Since then, we have achieved a number of firsts: the first woman government House leader, who is sitting right in front of me; the first woman Minister of Agriculture in this country; the first ever federal strategy to prevent and address gender-based violence; gender budgeting, because we know that the decisions the government makes impact different people differently; and creating the Department for Women and Gender Equality, making Status of Women Canada a full department and ensuring its full and equal place within the government.

Our commitment continues through budget 2019, which delivered new measures to provide housing security for women, parental leave to address gender disparity in skills development, a strategy to combat human trafficking and a historic increase to support women's organizations and to help them through the social finance fund. With a framework to measure results, we are ensuring that we are accountable to Canadians.

For 10 years, the Conservatives undermined, underestimated and underfunded women's organizations and muzzled them so they would not be able to advocate for women's rights. Our government restored advocacy as an activity eligible for funding. While they closed regional offices at Status of Women Canada, leaving only four offices, we are restoring our presence across the country with 16 points of service. Our government has made the single-largest investment in the sustainability of women's organizations so that over 250 of them could keep their doors open and continue to save and transform lives.

Last week, these seats were filled by 338 young women from across the country, a clear example of what is possible when the federal government steps in and invests in creating spaces and opportunities for young women to take their rightful seats in places of power and influence.

Advancing gender equality is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. We have come a long way in four years, but we know that there is more work to do to achieve gender equality. Our government is committed to doing that work. I hope the hon. member will join us in continuing that work. I want to thank her for her advocacy for women, not only on the east side of Vancouver but all across Canada.

[Daughters of the Vote, April 3rd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, today we were part of history when 338 young women from across Canada took their seats in this place and raised their voices.

Canada needs more women in politics, in business and in positions of power if we want our communities to prosper.

The work of Equal Voice and the Daughters of the Vote not only empower young women to seek public office, it gives them the tools they need to lead in their communities.

Having more young women in our democratic institutions will help us achieve gender equality.

[Women's Contributions, February 28th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, in February, during Black History Month, we honour the legacy of black Canadians. As it draws to a close, I would like to recognize some remarkable black women from Canada's past and present, such as civil rights crusader Viola Desmond, trail-blazing politician Rosemary Brown and entrepreneur Ann Divine. Their contributions helped advance gender equality and build a more inclusive Canada.

Honouring the contributions of women and girls will continue next week, on International Women's Day, when we celebrate the achievements of women and girls in fields where they are under-represented, including science, technology, engineering and math.

We need women's voices in these fields to shape the innovations of the future. It benefits us all, it makes Canada more competitive, it drives our economy and it grows our middle class. We need to #InnovateForChange.

[Status of Women, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I beg to differ with the hon. member. Our government is taking action by providing capacity funding and sustainability funding. We know that governments cannot do the work alone. Every individual in every sector has a role to play. Evidence shows that one of the most effective ways to advance gender equality is through the work of women's organizations. That is why we are providing stable and flexible funding to women's organizations to help them grow and endure.

While I have the floor probably for the last time before the break, I want to wish the hon. member all the best in the next stage of her political career. I hope, if she is fortunate enough to be elected to the B.C. legislature on the government side, she will work as hard as we have as a government to support women's organizations in her province, and perhaps even provide them with core funding.

[Status of Women, December 11th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to respond to the question asked by the hon. member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith and to rise, probably for the last time, in this beautiful and historic chamber. It has been a great honour to represent the people of Winnipeg South in the House of Commons for these past three years, and I hope to represent them in the new place for many years to come.

Last September, we celebrated an important first for Canada, the first-ever Gender Equality Week. It is a new opportunity every year to celebrate Canada's progress on advancing gender equality, reflect on the work that remains and recognize the countless benefits of gender equality for people of all genders.

We understand the importance of a strong women's movement, and how critical it is and has been to advance gender equality in Canada and around the world. That is why we are supporting equality-seeking organizations across Canada.

It was the women's movement that was instrumental in ensuring equality for women was a focus for the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It was the women's movement that worked to safeguard a woman's right to choose. It was the women's movement that brought gender-based violence out from the darkness and into the light. We recognize that the work of the women's movement is ongoing as efforts continue to advance gender equality in our country.

Our commitment to advancing gender equality has been clearly demonstrated since we formed government and appointed the first-ever gender-balanced cabinet. It continued to be demonstrated in budget 2018, which signalled our commitment to entrench the gender equality agenda. It also spoke directly to the issue that the hon. member is speaking about, the need to provide funding to the non-profit sector, including women's organizations, by committing $100 million in new dollars to provide reliable, predictable and accessible funds to ensure the sustainability of women's organizations. Of course, this is on top of the $200 million over five years that was allocated for a strategy to prevent and address gender-based violence.

That is not all. Just last week, the Minister of Status of Women announced more than $50 million in funding for nearly 60 projects to support survivors of gender-based violence and their families in communities across Canada. This more than doubles the initially announced funding of $20 million from budget 2017.

By providing stable, predictable and flexible funding to women's organizations, our government is able to support more organizations to continue and expand their vital activities and work collaboratively to advance gender equality.

[Status of Women, November 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, our government understands that a strong and vibrant women's movement across Canada is essential to supporting the middle class and those working hard to join it. Women's organizations must have the capacity and resources to do their good work.

That is why, after 10 years of being undermined by the Harper government, we launched the capacity-building funds stemming from budget 2018, an investment of $100 million over five years to increase organizational and sector capacity. The women's movement across the country has asked for a reliable, predictable and accessible source of funds—

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I will start with elderly senior women.

It is very interesting. Her colleague from Nanaimo—Ladysmith and I, in fact the entire Standing Committee on the Status of Women, are looking at that very issue as we speak, the situations of senior women in our country. We know there is further work to do, and we are going to work on that together.

I would remind the hon. member that we strengthened the GIS. For poor seniors, many of them women, it is an extra $1,000 to $1,700 a year. The hon. member will know that we reversed the Harper government decision to increase the age of eligibility for GIS and OAS, and it is now 65 again. We have strengthened the CPP.

On child care, $7.5 billion over 10 years is going to realize 40,000 new child care spaces in the immediate future.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was part of the 2015 election where fortunately Canadians gave us on this side of the House a mandate. We made a choice, and Canadians had a choice: balancing the budget at all costs or investing in Canadians. We took the latter approach. We are investing in major ways, $180 billion in infrastructure that will transform our communities, and municipalities across the country are so pleased with this government; $40 billion for a national housing strategy that will, among other things, keep women safe and provide transition housing and shelters. I could go on and on with the kinds of investments we have made.

Again, we were not going to balance the budget at all costs and cut benefits to veterans. We were not going to close Status of Women offices across the country as the Conservatives did. We chose to invest in Canadians.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak to Bill C-86, the budget implementation act, 2018, no. 2, and particularly to speak to division 18, which would establish the department for women and gender equality, or WAGE for short. Creating the department for women and gender equality would modernize and formalize the important roles of the Status of Women Canada agency and of its minister and provide a secure base from which to reinforce and expand the work that Status of Women Canada has been doing for decades.

Canada has had a minister responsible for status of women since 1971, but it was only under our Prime Minister that the first minister fully dedicated to status of women was appointed. Since its early days as an agency, Status of Women Canada has grown into a centre of gender expertise. It has led the way in areas such as gender-based research and gendered policy development and analysis, as well as intergovernmental coordination and international leadership on gender issues.

Through its women's program, the agency has also led the way in providing funding support for equality-seeking organizations across the country that work at increasing women's economic security and prosperity, encouraging women's leadership and democratic participation, and ending violence against women and girls.

Our government has made gender equality one of its top priorities. Transforming Status of Women Canada into a full department reflects the central importance this government places on gender equality. Gender equality, we know, is not a women's issue; it is an issue for everyone. If we get this right, we all benefit. This is not just a philosophical or theoretical observation; it is based on our actual economic performance.

Labour force participation rates of women have grown tremendously over the past few decades from just 22% in 1950 to well over 80% today. Bringing more women into the workforce has been one of the most powerful drivers of our economic growth. In fact, increasing numbers of women in the workforce over the last 40 years has accounted for approximately one-third of the per capita growth in Canada's real gross domestic product. Having more women in the workforce has not only opened up new doors of opportunities for women; it has also driven economic growth, boosted family incomes, and helped more and more families join the middle class. Canada today is a much richer, healthier and more equitable country than it was just a few decades ago.

Despite our progress, that door of opportunity is not yet fully opened. There are still too many barriers to the full participation of women. There are still too many missed opportunities caused by gender gaps in a number of different areas, including education and career options, economic participation and leadership. For example, there is still a substantial gender wage gap in this country. In Canada in 2017, for every dollar a man earned, a woman earned only 88.5¢. This does not tell the whole story because many more women than men work only part-time, largely due to the fact that many women cannot take on full-time employment because of household and family-care responsibilities.

Key sectors in our economy that represent high-quality and well-paid jobs, like the high-tech sector where women make up only a quarter of the workforce, have major labour shortages. We have heard that in the House. We are working to remove barriers to women's participation in these fields so we can fill those jobs and, in doing so, grow our economy and our middle class.

Increasing our efforts to remove barriers and enhance gender equality in this country is not just the right thing to do; it is the smart thing to do to strengthen the middle class and grow Canada's economy. In fact, RBC Economics estimates that if men and women participated equally in the workforce, Canada's GDP could be boosted by as much as 4% more over the next few years and could partially offset the expected effects of an aging population.

How do we get there from here? For one thing, we start with the basics: budgets. Budgets are about making choices on where we allocate limited resources. Putting a gender and diversity lens on budgeting gives us the ability to understand how our economic decisions affect people differently. When we know that, we can allocate government resources more equitably and more efficiently, benefiting all Canadians.

We presented our first-ever gender statement in a budget in 2017. We are now introducing a new gender results framework, which is a whole-of-government tool to measure how we are doing and to help define what is needed to achieve gender equality as we go forward.

At the same time, we recognize that gender identities are complex. Not all women experience inequality and not all men experience privilege. Binary notions of gender do not work for all Canadians. Race, class, sexuality and ability among other factors all intersect to profoundly impact how gender is experienced in daily life.

With this legislation, promoting gender equality and the advancement of women, including women with disabilities, indigenous women and women in other vulnerable areas such as newcomer and immigrant women, will continue to be the central focus of the new department for women and gender equality. However, the new department will also have an expanded mandate for gender equality, which includes sexual orientation as well as gender identity and expression in response to the unique challenges faced by members of the LGBTQ2 community.

Our government will not shy away from taking strong action on equality, from appointing the first-ever gender balanced federal cabinet, to the first federal minister fully dedicated to gender issues, to the first gender budget launching Canada's first-ever strategy to prevent and address gender-based violence and unparalleled investments in women and girls. Our government is advancing gender equality within Canada and around the world.

Our government understands that gender equality creates economic growth and with the department of women and gender equality wage, we will strengthen our capacity to advance gender equality and grow the middle class through policy, programming and support for equality seeking organizations and community partners.

[Violence Against Women, November 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as well as the beginning of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. From now until December 10, people can use the hashtags #MYActionsMatter or #MESGestesComptent to share their messages of support and solidarity.

This year, Status of Women Canada again partnered with the Canadian Football League, as well as the United Steelworkers and the Ending Violence Association of Canada on a campaign to end violence. “Call It Out”, the campaign challenging us all to be more than a bystander to end gender-based violence, was featured during this year's CFL playoffs and the 106th Grey Cup.

Everyone has a role to play to in ending gender-based violence. When we work together, we can help change the attitudes that contribute to it.