Human Resources committee  Right. Absolutely. What I was getting to was that—

Human Resources committee  I don't think any member of this committee thinks we're ready, and that's why we're discussing this issue. Dr. MacDonald, you mentioned the synergy. We just heard from Ms. Mackenzie, and she's the advocate for seniors. We heard from the federal retirees that they would like to have a national seniors strategy and a minister for seniors.

Human Resources committee  The problem is that we have so many disconnects between all these different studies that it is difficult to bring the information together and get a storyline and come up with effective solutions. When analysts come to these problems, their difficulty will always be data. Fortunately, in the Canadian federal government, analysts will take pieces of data and use that data to come up with solutions.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Brian. Just to broaden that a bit, at Ryerson I'm actually with the National Institute on Ageing as well. I've been doing research for quite a long time. I always find it very surprising that when we look at retirement income security for Canadian seniors, we always look at age 65, but most 65-year-old Canadians who don't have enough money to sustain their living standards do what the rest of Canadians do: either they go back to work or they curb their spending.

Finance committee  Absolutely. The per capita number I have is based on spending across agencies and departments. I should be clear that not every department fully discloses where its grants go, so it's my best estimate. That was just for spending on violence against women. That came to just under $5 per capita.

Finance committee  I have two questions, and I think my colleague Mr. Sorbara will have at least one. I would first like to address Dr. McInturff. Madam McInturff, thank you very much for a particularly forceful presentation. I've long learned that investing in women always pays off. We see that in terms of what this government is trying to do on international development.

Environment committee  The second last point is that if you were lucky enough to go to Montreal and see the exhibit last year, It's All Happening So Fast, you may have noticed a quote from Dr. David Suzuki. His view is that environmentalism is actually rooted to a deep attachment to place, so you can see that interplay between heritage conservation and environmental sustainability is right there.

Industry committee  Therefore, I was very committed to doing this. We had this incredible blue ribbon panel chaired by Dr. David Naylor, the former president of the University of Toronto. It included people like Dr. Art McDonald, our newest Nobel Prize winner; Dr. Martha Piper, the former president of UBC; Mike Lazaridis of BlackBerry; and the chief scientist of Quebec, Rémi Quirion.

Indian Act  I am of course paraphrasing John A. Macdonald. I can almost hear some of the other members objecting, but will this proposal not deny my fundamental rights contained within the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and violate universal human rights standards?

Industry committee  Martha Crago from Dalhousie. In Quebec, the chief scientist is Dr. Rémi Quirion. We have Dr. Art McDonald, our newest Nobel Prize winner, and Mike Lazaridis of BlackBerry, and the list goes on.

Railway Safety Act  At that time, safety may not have been as important as it is today. It is said that Agnes Macdonald, wife of then Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, was so thrilled with the sight of the mountains that she road the train's cowcatcher all the way through. That must have been a “mooving” experience, for sure.

Status of Women committee  I have thought about this question of what maternity should be within the same program, and there are some good reasons to have it outside. On the other hand, there already are some different provisions and requirements for our parental benefits, special benefits, compared to regular ones.

Status of Women committee  I was going to go on to say that I would prefer to have it kept within EI, and partly because it is a job interruption. I think we need expectations of who works and of multiple-earner families and so on as that changes; then the range of job interruptions is more than just a question of our having a recession and your losing your job.

Status of Women committee  I have just one point on revenue neutrality. EI is supposed to an automatic stabilizer. It's supposed to be taking in more money when times are good and then paying out more money when times aren't. Over the good years since the EI reform was put in place, it built up a tremendous surplus.

Status of Women committee  I'd like to jump in, if I may. On the issue of choice, of course I agree with the constrained choices that people face, especially on the caregiving responsibilities. There's another aspect of the choice, which is the demand side of the labour market. Everything we've heard about choice so far is the supply side of the labour market.