Pay Equity in the News November 5th, 2007

Bravo for our Mount Allison University allies (see first item below)!

Bravo pour nos alliées et nos alliés de Mount Allison University (voir le premier article ci-dessous)!

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Telegraph-Journal (NB)
News;News, Friday, November 2, 2007, p. A2

'Canada ... has much to be immodest about' Lecture Stephen Harper's deputy minister lectures in Sackville

Nathan White Telegraph-Journal

Canada's top bureaucrat didn't get his job by being brash and opinionated.

The consummate non-partisan, Kevin Lynch hedged his bets throughout a public lecture at Mount Allison University Thursday evening.

After giving a speech entitled "Are Canadians Too Modest?" Lynch defused questions from the crowd of about 75, who queried him on pay equity, climate change, foreign ownership and self-sufficiency.

A woman in the second row at the Crabtree Auditorium raised the issue of the wage gap between men and women with the first question. Referring to statistics Lynch presented that showed Canada owes much of its recent economic growth to women entering the workforce, she suggested females haven't seen the payback for their contributions to Canadian society.

"Let me dance around this," Lynch responded with a laugh. "That's how I got to be clerk, by being opaque beyond belief."

He eventually got to an answer, saying he believes women will continue to gain status in the workplace as the employment landscape shifts from one of excess supply of labour to excess demand.

Lynch fielded other meaty questions calmly, using statistics and terms like "I think,-I would argue" and the reflexive "kind of" as he diverted some blunt questioning.

That style has earned him a reputation for valuing ideas over ideology, which led Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper to appoint him chief clerk of the privy council, despite his former role as deputy minister of finance under Liberal Paul Martin.

The Cape Breton native and Mount Allison grad is now Canada's top bureaucrat: Harper's deputy minister, the head of the public service and the man who ensures the cabinet system operates the way Harper envisions.

Harper has also appointed him to work with Brian Dick, the provincial deputy minister for self-sufficiency, and other provincial officials on the federal role in achieving Premier Shawn Graham's self-sufficiency agenda.

Lynch didn't even give a straight answer to his own title question, concluding: "Canada is, yes, modest by nature, but also has much to be immodest about."

He also steered around a question asking whether New Brunswick can achieve Graham's goal of becoming self-sufficient by 2026.

"I think this is an opportunity for the Maritimes, not just New Brunswick but Nova Scotia and elsewhere, to make some progress," he said. "I think this is a time Atlantic Canada can and should do well. We have to ask ourselves, 'What are the changes that will maximize our ability to do that (and) focus on things that will have maximum impact."

"The prime minister, when he met with the premier, indicated he was very keen on seeing what the areas of focus will be in New Brunswick and will they coincide with federal options to get the maximum leverage between the two things," Lynch added. "That's government working with common objectives and hopefully we'll get the private sector working with common objectives as well. It's got to be the private sector that drives our economies."

Lynch's presentation consisted of several graphs and statistics that showed mostly solid economic growth over the past decade and beyond in Canada. He said Canada has grown from the fiscal crisis that peaked in the mid-1990s, when the Wall Street Journal called the country "bankrupt" and referred to the dollar as "the northern peso."

"Most of you don't remember that, which shows how much change has happened since then," said Lynch, who highlighted the country's well-managed inflation growth, 35-year low unemployment rates and 11 years of balanced budgets.

However, he said Canada must be ready to continually adjust and grow in the 21st century.

Both the private and public sectors will face challenges in attracting "the best and the brightest," said Lynch, as the population ages and the workforce shrinks.

"We are at a demographic high point in Canada's history in terms of the proportion of the population at working age," he said. "It's probably going to turn down around 2010 and once it starts to turn down, it's not going to turn back for a very long time."

Canada has the highest percentage of workers with post-secondary education in the world, and a skilled workforce is "one of our biggest strengths," Lynch said. But the private and public sectors have to adjust from the "monopoly" they enjoyed when labour supply was high.

"It will be a challenge finding enough workers with the right skills and training to fill the jobs of tomorrow," said Lynch.

Canada does have some educational shortcomings: it trails some OECD countries in university education, and 12 per cent of males and 7 per cent of females don't graduate high school.

Meanwhile, business investment in research and development was at the bottom of the chart he showed comparing it to OECD competitors.

"We have to be better at excellence. We're not going to make Canada a great country by being average," Lynch said. "We've got to be the best and have a culture of excellence that pervades everything we do.

"If we don't do better research and development, how are we going to beat India and China? We don't want to beat them by lower wages, we've got to have better products and productivity. It's the only way in the global economy we are going to win and grow our standard of living."

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Canada NewsWire
Dimanche, 28 octobre 2007 - 09:30

Équité salariale: justice est enfin faite à l'égard des 1 000 gestionnaires des Centres de la petite enfance

DRUMMONDVILLE, QC, le 28 oct. /CNW Telbec/ - En assemblée générale annuelle, avec une participation record, les responsables des centres de la petite enfance (CPE) du Québec ont salué l'initiative de la nouvelle ministre de la Famille, Mme Michelle Courchesne, rétablissant l'équité salariale.

"Un des derniers foyers de discrimination contre les femmes est sur le point de tomber, a commenté Ginette Masson, présidente de l'Association des cadres des centres de la petite enfance du Québec. Cela fait plus de quatre ans qu'on tente de régler cette injustice avec le ministère de la Famille."

Les membres de l'Association n'ont pas manqué de remarquer que le règlement escompté survient six mois à peine après la nomination de Mme Courchesne à ce poste. "Nous estimons qu'il est fair-play de notre part de souligner les bons coups de la ministre."

Dernier foyer de discrimination

Aujourd'hui même, les gestionnaires et responsables des CPE du Québec - dont 90 % sont des femmes - vivent toujours la discrimination salariale. À tâches égales, elles étaient nettement moins payées que les groupes de gestionnaires de l'État à prédominance masculine, selon une étude comparative faite en 2006 par une firme spécialisée en ressources humaines.

Tous les autres groupes de salariés cadres et non cadres ont reçu des ajustements pour mettre un terme à la discrimination dont ils étaient victimes, le cas échéant.

L'impatience des membres de l'Association avait atteint sa limite. Toutefois, à la veille de son assemblée annuelle, tenue à Drummondville vendredi, au moment où les membres s'apprêtaient à prendre des moyens d'action pour faire débloquer ce dossier, le représentant de la ministre Courchesne a transmis aux responsables des CPE un message indiquant que la discrimination allait être abolie d'ici "quelques semaines". Cette assurance a été confirmée par l'Association des CPE du Québec, l'instance patronale, dans un communiqué émis le même jour.

En outre, au téléphone, la veille, la présidente de l'Association avait reçu de la part du sous-ministre de la Famille, M. Pierre Lamarche, l'engagement selon lequel un cadre financier correspondant aux mesures correctives nécessaires, selon les responsables des CPE, serait déposé cette semaine.

"Ce déblocage ne règle pas tous les problèmes des responsables des CPE, qui, pour la plupart, accomplissent leur tâche comme si elles poursuivaient une vocation, a affirmé Mme Masson. Cependant, il corrige une discrimination inacceptable commise à l'encontre de ces professionnels dévoués."

L'Association du personnel cadre des centres de la petite enfance du Québec regroupe 400 gestionnaires et responsables de centres. Elle vise à promouvoir la qualité de la gestion des CPE, faire reconnaître leur rôle de gestionnaire et les soutenir.

Contact: Note aux journalistes: Mme Ginette Masson, présidente de l'Association du personnel cadre des centres de la petite enfance du Québec est disponible pour entrevue au téléphone ou en personne, toute la journée, dimanche. Ligne directe: (514) 796-9571 ou (450) 228-2956; Claude Tremblay, Directeur général, Association des cadres professionnels des centres de la petite enfance du Québec, (514) 703-8648

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Johanne Perron
Coordinator / Coordonnatrice
Coalition for Pay Equity of NB
Coalition pour l'équité salariale du N.-B.
Tel / Tél.: (506) 855-0002
Fax / Téléc.: (506) 854-9728
51 Williams Street, Moncton, NB E1C 2G6
51, rue Williams, Moncton, N.-B. E1C 2G6
coalitio@nb.sympatico.ca
www.equite-equity.com