FEWO Committee Report

Complementary opinion of the Bloc Québécois

First and foremost, the Bloc Québécois reaffirms its fears about positive discrimination and labelling in the workplace, which could exclude some and stigmatize others.

Nevertheless, the Bloc Québécois is deeply in favor of upstream prevention and awareness-raising in the face of the systemic economic obstacles that women encounter in their daily lives. This can be perfectly complementary to downstream actions when specific situations are encountered.

As far as training programs and education are concerned, the Bloc Québécois reiterates that these are Quebec's responsibilities, notably via a 1997 federal-provincial agreement on manpower training. No one can deny that the introduction of the federal government into what falls under Quebec’s jurisdiction can lead systemically to a form of interference. The fact that the Government of Canada claims to act “with respect for the jurisdictions of the provinces, territories and aboriginal peoples” is clearly no guarantee.

As for the low-cost daycare system, Quebec has been a forerunner since 1977. The federal government must assume an asymmetrical agreement by not encroaching on training or the introduction of new daycare programs. Quebec has CPEs and is asking the federal government to transfer the money to the Quebec government without any conditions.