Procedure and House Affairs committee  I am usually quite a direct-answer type of person. The only reason I'm hesitating here is that I hear what you're saying, but on the other hand, I do have to have the support of my board, which I didn't have an opportunity to consult on this.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There is strong academic data to date to show that men have greater advantages when it comes to addressing financial issues in running for nomination or as leadership candidates.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, and that's why I was asking the question in the sense of what the banks are saying. Have the banks appeared—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I understand that you want to know where Equal Voice stands on various positions. All I'm asking for from the committee is to give Equal Voice's board an opportunity. I don't believe in beating around the bush, and I won't. I give you my personal word on that. Because we're a m

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That would be such a layered answer in the sense that part of what needs to be seen is numbers in terms of whether there are numbers out there talking about how much money men spend on nominations versus how much money women spend on nominations in elections. I don't have that da

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That is a question I will bring back to the board, and I can have an answer for you very clearly one day. If I can add one more thing as well, the issue of the barriers for women in politics has been talked about for so long. I'm turning 40. It's been talked about since I was bo

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you very much for both of your questions. To clarify the first question, which was about the financing and the money issue being the only barrier for women in politics, it's one of many barriers. The academic data—I'll just make reference to Canadian data—specify the nom

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As far as the 1990 commission and the particulars of the bill we're talking about here today, the royal commission and what's presented here on the paper with the eight points do not specifically address the loan component of the law. It's a pleasure to appear before you today

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you very much for that suggestion. We welcome suggestions from everybody around the table as we go back to our board to formulate more specific policy.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Since Equal Voice is still in its embryonic period of developing policy, I wish I could get into a more substantial discussion in terms of what's presented here. This is something that Equal Voice will be able to do in the near future. What we presented here was from the 1990 com

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If I may clarify, what we spoke about in terms of spending limits comes directly from the 1990 royal commission.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I will be speaking. Ann is attending with me, but it will be just one presentation.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you so much for inviting Equal Voice to appear before the standing committee. For those of you who are not aware of Equal Voice, if you can just indulge me, I'll take a moment to explain who we are. Equal Voice is a national, multi-partisan, volunteer-based organization d

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Raylene Lang-Dion, national chair, Equal Voice.