Status of Women committee  To get to that point, you have to do gender-based analysis, and that's what we're starting to do. We're making some important progress, but we're not there yet. Also, the point we made in terms of the comments of one of your colleagues is that what we do is provide advice to th

Status of Women committee  All right. I'll start by answering the first two questions. As regards the GST, the fact that this measure has an impact on all Canadians was important. It's also important in the case you described. The allowance for GST credit was not reduced at the same time, so support for t

Status of Women committee  May I say something? You have been very patient with me, but these are really important issues. I would like to provide the committee with an assessment of the progress over the last 10 years, where governments have worked on child poverty and made a difference. It still exists

Status of Women committee  It was decided by the department several years ago to create a champion—in fact, it was before I arrived—and to engage in this process. To generate change in a large organization, you do need a champion. In practical terms, I have an executive committee of nine ADMs and eight gen

Status of Women committee  The $10 million that we added to their budget in this budget.

Status of Women committee  Their budget was reduced in the fall. It wasn't a budget decision on that. There was a process to weigh up how to go, and I believe my colleague from the Treasury Board mentioned the process that was managed by her ministry to do that. It wasn't a budget initiative, so I have to

Status of Women committee  I'll lead off. I would just say that yes, indeed, the age credit is differentially more helpful to senior women, because there are more of them in that category. There are also other elements of it that are assessed, but stepping back from that, I think what we were asked to com

Status of Women committee  Thanks for the question. The import of what we do as public servants is provide advice to the government. My job description is to support the Minister of Finance. The Minister of Finance, when he's putting together a budget, wants to make decisions on an informed basis. He talk

Status of Women committee  Well, actually I was saying that it's not just 30% faster than it was in the past, it's 30% faster than the growth for men. So I was saying that more women are entering the workforce and finding employment. Not only that, the wage growth for women has been about 25% faster than t

Status of Women committee  They're all very important questions. The results I was giving were very high level, for the overall employment in the Canadian economy. I don't have any light to add on those important questions, but I will take them back to the department and see if there is some additional i

Status of Women committee  Well, the tax credit actually makes it a more progressive initiative. It's more targeted to those folks who need the support. So actually the more targeted it is in terms of a fixed pool of money, the more it helps low-income women and low-income families. I think there are als

Status of Women committee  I would just say that it's in the finance budget. It was followed on a very strong case made by the minister responsible, to Minister Flaherty and to the Prime Minister. So it was an additional $10 million that was put out to ensure this programming can keep going, and in a numbe

Status of Women committee  There is. The minister has set the broad priorities. He has engaged his colleagues, and they've weighed up the approach in the budget. So the budget had obviously a focus on supporting families with children, but also there was a broader gender approach, an environmental approach

Status of Women committee  To supplement their programming for women, for the benefit of women.

Status of Women committee  No. The point I had wanted to make was that they certainly have a strong interest in maintaining the leadership with us on gender-based analysis.