Status of Women committee  I have a quick comment, Mr. Chair.

Status of Women committee  That's possible; I'm a schoolteacher, and we're very concerned about math education. We have sometimes found that there is a problem with--sorry for saying it--even some teachers in understanding finances. It is very important that we get young people to think of planning for t

Status of Women committee  It's Beverley Smith here.

Status of Women committee  I was just going to say that the highest birth rates in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa, and they don't do anything to help women do paid work, so there are other factors involved. I believe that you have to look at what Quebec is doing right, which is to value caregiving plu

Status of Women committee  We've seen studies of what the cost of homelessness is....

Status of Women committee  Thank you. You have asked about solutions, and I'm so glad we have the OECD looking at international solutions. I say this because Czechoslovakia, for instance, extends its family allowance to adulthood; and Singapore, China, and Australia have birth bonuses right now. Italy tri

Status of Women committee  May I comment? We have lost the family allowance in Canada and lost the child dependant deduction and kept the spousal allowance quite low, so most people who stay home to take care of a child discover quite quickly that it costs more than they thought it would. The estimate is u

Status of Women committee  I just read a study by the head of the Canadian actuaries that was recommending very much what you were saying, or so it sounded to me, and I'm very pleased to hear you say that. I think we need a pension summit. There are a lot of seniors, and I know of two million of them who

Status of Women committee  This is Beverley Smith. I could comment.

Status of Women committee  We have noticed in divorce laws an oddity. After divorce, when you're calculating the benefits, the role of the woman to contribute to raising the children is counted as her share, and that is why she is given equal benefits on divorce. It's during marriage that she's not counted

Status of Women committee  May I answer the question?

Status of Women committee  I can answer, if you like.

Status of Women committee  I am not quite sure of what you are saying, but I recently read in the press that thought is being given to providing employment insurance benefits to self-employed persons. We might consider women at home as self-employed persons. That way, we could force the government to pay p

Status of Women committee  I appreciate your trying to work within the system. I'm a little more of a revolutionary. I think the Canada Pension Plan is designed to value paid labour and is out of sync with what women do. The dropout provision has bad optics because it looks like “we will forgive you for be

Status of Women committee  You said 35% or 40%. Let's go with that; I like it.