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Results: 1 - 12 of 12
View Andréanne Larouche Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you very much, Madam Minister.
I didn't understand what you said earlier. Who would have thought Canada was the only country with a feminist lens on economic measures during the pandemic?
I'd like to bring to your attention that some economic measures were not necessarily suited to women. I am thinking of the emergency account in particular. Some women had trouble gaining access, for they had more personal accounts because they run very small businesses. Women in my constituency have contacted me to tell me about the difficulties they encountered gaining access to certain economic measures.
I'd like to hear from you about this.
View Maryam Monsef Profile
Lib. (ON)
It was CARE International. They are of course a very well-respected organization nationally and domestically. Your point about supports for women entrepreneurs is an important one. First, the partnership with the regional development agencies that provided funding through, for example, Community Futures Development Corporation has been able to provide targeted supports to entrepreneurs.
My colleague Minister Ng was able to secure an additional $15 million for women entrepreneurs across the country. Most recently our finance minister was able to put forward additional measures that provided small businesses with additional supports for their fixed costs. It was great to see it move forward earlier this week; I think it was yesterday. I'm very much looking forward to ensuring that those businesses that can remain viable stay so, and those businesses that are so critical to the character and the vitality of our communities have the supports they need to make it through a difficult winter.
As we approach Christmas, as we approach the holiday season, I know all of us are going to do our part as MPs to encourage buy local measures, particularly in smaller and rural communities where those entrepreneurs are doing everything they can to keep their doors open. They need to know that we'll be there for them just as we've been since the beginning of the pandemic.
View Lindsay Mathyssen Profile
NDP (ON)
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Minister, for appearing today.
I just want to continue on with the line of questioning from my colleague from the Bloc. With all due respect to CARE—they are a wonderful organization, absolutely—but considering that we heard from a majority of witnesses throughout our study about how COVID has impacted women, I find it difficult to hear that so many women have fallen through the cracks, especially when the government was pushed on the fact that when CERB was provided, there wasn't an actual GBA+ lens applied to it. If in fact that is the case, in terms of the new programs for EI, the caregiving benefit, the paid sick leave and so on, do we have your assurance that, moving forward, a GBA+ lens will be absolutely applied?
View Maryam Monsef Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you for that very important question.
COVID has highlighted challenges that existed before the pandemic. Structural, systemic challenges that were hurting communities pre-COVID are in sharp focus now. It may be difficult to consider that CARE has recognized Canada as having the best intersectional gendered response, but it's true, and it doesn't mean that we don't have more work to do. On those three measures that you referred to as well as the new CERB—EI, the caregiving benefit, sick leave—an intersectional gendered lens was applied.
I think we can all agree that those particular measures are going to disproportionately benefit women, disproportionately benefit racialized women, disproportionately benefit those who perhaps did not have these care benefits before COVID, but now don't have to make the difficult choice between staying home when they or a loved one is sick or going to work and risking the spread of this very cruel disease.
View Jag Sahota Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister, I asked you about gender-based analysis and if the programs had that lens applied. Women were being left out of some programs where they couldn't get financial support. You said that Minister Qualtrough was fixing the programs, or had fixed the problems so women could get support.
How and why did we get to the stage where the program needed to be fixed? Your mandate letter requires you to apply the gender-based analysis lens before the programs are rolled out, not two, four, six or eight months later when women have already lost their jobs and feel the financial impact.
View Maryam Monsef Profile
Lib. (ON)
I think every Canadian appreciates that we are in the middle of an unprecedented crisis and that the pandemic is something that we have been working on since the beginning of the year. I think Canadians also appreciate that their government listens. When they say something needs to be improved, when they say something is better, I think Canadians expect the government to listen, and we've done just that.
In addition to the supports we've put forward around parental leave and mat leave, we were able to put forward a credit—
View Jag Sahota Profile
CPC (AB)
Minister, my question is this: Why wasn't the gender analysis lens applied before the programs were rolled out, such that we needed to fix those programs afterwards?
View Maryam Monsef Profile
Lib. (ON)
We were able to put forward a historic number of programs and deliver them in record time. Canadians told us to focus on speed and to perfect the programs after they had been rolled out. We did just that.
Canadians can rest assured that we'll continue to be there for them throughout COVID and post-COVID. We will take what they have to say seriously and respond to their needs. Members of Parliament have played a really big role in providing those eyes and ears on the ground to ensure that the decisions we make in such tight timelines, in a matter of months compared with years, take into account lived realities, as well.
View Jag Sahota Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My question is for Ms. Smylie, or anybody else who wants to answer.
Ms. Smylie, on the GBA+ analysis, you talked about the process and how you apply the GBA+ lens at the beginning, in the middle, towards the end. Basically you continue to apply the lens.
Considering the problems we saw with the initial programs at the beginning of the pandemic, which are now being fixed, was a GBA+ analysis done at the beginning? If so, were the issues, such as women going on maternity leave or small business owners who are women and not having chequing accounts, flagged and addressed prior to the rollout of these programs?
Lisa Smylie
View Lisa Smylie Profile
Lisa Smylie
2020-11-24 13:14
Our work at WAGE doesn't involve us being intimately familiar with all of the discussions that go on as part of the GBA+ process, so I'm not able to speak to any specific initiative that is the purview of another department.
In terms of whether GBA+ was applied at the beginning, the middle or the end, my answer is that it depends. For new programs that were developed, you can see in the economic and fiscal update that in many of those, the GBA+ was done at the beginning. For initiatives that leveraged existing programs, the GBA+, in the context of COVID, would have been done in the midst of implementing that program. It existed pre-COVID.
The answer is that it depends on what initiative was being leveraged, whether it was a new program or an existing program, in terms of what point in time that GBA+ was done.
Corinne Pohlmann
View Corinne Pohlmann Profile
Corinne Pohlmann
2020-11-17 12:02
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I'll be focusing my remarks on the impacts of COVID-19 on female entrepreneurs. I'll be walking you through a slide deck that I hope you all have in front of you.
Right away, I want to talk a bit about CFIB. It's a not-for-profit member-based organization that represents the interests of independently owned Canadian companies. Our 110,000 members come from every sector of the economy and are found in every region of the country.
During COVID-19, CFIB has been very active. Our help line call volumes tripled, with small business owners looking for information to help them get through the crisis. We've also undertaken regular surveys since the beginning of the pandemic to determine how small businesses are doing and how well government programs are working, and I want to share some of that with you today.
If we move to slide three, I want to start with how small businesses are doing right now.
As of early November, 66% of small businesses were fully open, 42% were fully staffed, and only 28% were at normal sales, all of which has actually decreased since October as more jurisdictions impose further restrictions. The bottom line is that this pandemic remains a significant challenge for many small businesses.
As you can see on slide four, small businesses are not homogeneous. About 30% have been in business for 10 years or less, and 96% have fewer than 50 employees. Just under one in two small businesses are owned by men, almost one in four are owned by women, and 28% have multiple owners, which might have a combination of genders.
Slide five looks at the share of ownership by gender, with 23% of firms being either entirely or majority owned by women and another 28% owned equally by women and men. This means that around 50% of businesses have women playing some type of role in the ownership.
Female business owners are also more highly represented in certain sectors, such as social services, enterprise and administration management, retail, professional services and personal services. In addition, as you can see on slide six, women-owned businesses also tend to be newer and smaller than their male counterparts, which might also explain some of the additional challenges they have faced.
As you can see on slide seven, those challenges are substantial. Only 63% of female-owned businesses are fully open, which is 10% less than male-owned businesses. Just 35% are fully staffed, which is 13% less than their male counterparts, and only 24% are back to normal sales, which is 8% less than men-owned businesses.
As you can see on slide eight, most small businesses are worried about the uncertainty around a second wave, and about two-thirds worry about the economic repercussions. About half are worried that consumer spending will be reduced even after COVID, and a similar number are worried about their business cash flow, the physical health impacts and their growing debt.
When we dissect the data further, you will see on slide nine that female-owned businesses are much more likely to be worried about consumer spending being reduced even after COVID, about their mounting debt, about their business cash flow, and about dealing with overwhelming stress than their male counterparts. Clearly, female entrepreneurs could use some financial and emotional support.
When it comes to financial support, as you can see on slide 10, female-owned businesses are more likely to need rent relief, and getting that relief significantly increases their odds of staying open. This is why the new Canada emergency rent subsidy needs to be implemented as soon as possible.
As you can see on slide 11, the Canada emergency wage subsidy tends to be more heavily used by more established firms. As female-owned businesses are more likely to be newer and smaller, we can assume they are probably not using the wage subsidy quite as much, and they are more likely to have used the Canada emergency response benefit to help themselves get through the tougher periods of the pandemic. It was also sometimes the only financial support many very small and newer business owners could get.
Quickly, in summary, before I get to some recommendations, female-owned businesses are more likely to be smaller and newer businesses, which also tend to be the businesses that are more likely to fall through the cracks of the various emergency relief programs, so it really should be no surprise that they also tend to be more worried about their businesses, and with good reason. The data tells us that they are less likely to be fully open, have normal or better revenues, be fully staffed or be able to pay their rent.
To help these entrepreneurs weather the storm, we need to make adjustments to the various emergency relief programs. First, we need to expand all emergency support programs to include microsized and newer firms, as this will likely help more female-owned businesses and also those that are owned by visible minorities.
For example, the Canada emergency business account loan requires a smaller company with less than $20,000 in payroll to submit documents showing they have more than $40,000 in non-deferrable expenses. The problem is that the application process is complex and some of the rules make it very difficult to comply. It needs to be simplified and made more flexible.
Second, as rent tends to be a more important expense to female-owned businesses, government needs to introduce the Canada emergency rent subsidy immediately, as December 1 is not that far away.
It would also be important for government to look at providing 50% of rent retroactively to those who qualified under the old rent program but did not get relief, as their landlord did not apply. Those businesses have likely accumulated a lot of debt and deserve to be provided with some assistance to help them through.
Third, even though women entrepreneurs are less likely to use the wage subsidy, it is still the most generous program being offered to small businesses. We want to make sure it is accessible to those who really need it. For example, many small business owners pay themselves in dividends, so they're not able to include their own income in the wage subsidy, nor can they use their dividend income to get CEBA. These programs should allow at least some dividend income to be included.
We would also suggest that the new lockdown support, which allows businesses to get up to 90% of their rent covered if they are forced to shut down due to a public health order, be expanded to the wage subsidy. Businesses want to hold on to their staff, and if they must close, they may have no choice but to let them go. Increasing the wage subsidy to 90% during these periods may help many more hang on to their staff until they can open.
Finally, I just want to mention something that is starting to emerge with seasonal businesses. They're now in their low season and may no longer have the revenue losses they did during the summer, but their needs have not changed. Without having made their usual higher revenues during the high season, it will be difficult for many of them to get through to next year. Finding some alternative ways for them to illustrate their circumstances in order to get a higher wage subsidy would be welcome.
There are many more ideas, but I will leave it at that for today. Thank you for your attention. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.
Sévrine Labelle
View Sévrine Labelle Profile
Sévrine Labelle
2020-11-17 12:09
Good morning, everyone.
Thank you for inviting me.
Allow me briefly to introduce Femmessor. We are a Quebec organization that has been devoted to the development of women's entrepreneurship in Quebec for the past 25 years. We offer financing and coaching particularly to women entrepreneurs from all regions of Quebec.
To maximize the potential of the Canadian economy, we need to promote diversified and inclusive economic growth. Unfortunately, female-owned businesses are still a small minority of Canadian SMEs: only 15.5% of SMEs are majority female-owned, compared to 66.4% that are majority male-owned. According to statistics, this gap is even wider in the manufacturing, technology and all innovative sectors, where women are largely absent.
Female entrepreneurship has experienced remarkable growth in recent years. Entrepreneurship intentions among women in Quebec more than tripled between 2007 and 2017. And this rate is twice as high among immigrant women. However, the COVID-19 crisis has hit women entrepreneurs harder, which threatens to widen the gender gap.
That is one of the findings of a survey conducted by Femmessor in collaboration with the BMO Chair in Diversity and Governance at the University of Montréal and the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub. The findings in this report are worrisome and shed light on the need for additional steps to ensure that women entrepreneurs can participate fully in the economic recovery.
Highlights of the study include the fact that women entrepreneurs were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Two-thirds of the companies surveyed were operating at less than 50% capacity during the crisis in the spring, and one in five entrepreneurs did not think they could survive the crisis. In addition, women-owned businesses have distinctive characteristics. They are in the sectors most affected by the pandemic. We are thinking, obviously, of the retail industry, personal services, the arts, culture, housing and the restaurant industry.
In many instances, women-owned businesses are also small businesses. Consequently, the financial resources that they can use to address such a crisis are limited. They also experience financing issues, as my colleague said. According to our study, 42% of the women entrepreneurs surveyed indicated that they were actively seeking funding to ensure their survival or to adapt their service or product offerings in response to the pandemic.
After exhausting the government assistance available, their funding requirements averaged $54,000. However, only 20% of respondents said that they intended to take advantage of the measures put in place by the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada. When asked why, many said they did not qualify for the programs. The high level of debt among women entrepreneurs is also a major concern according to the study. In the spring, the most-used government measures among women entrepreneurs were definitely the Canada emergency business account and the emergency wage subsidy. New measures have since been implemented.
The crisis has also affected the women themselves. They have more family responsibilities and are experiencing more stress, which has, in some instances, made it more difficult to achieve work-life balance and to manage their businesses. We also learned from the survey that women need training and coaching to help them go digital and to support them in innovation, business development and networking.
What needs to be done? First of all, we need to step up our efforts to ensure that women are fully engaged in the economic recovery and that they do not lose the hard-won gains of the past 10 years. A gendered crisis requires a gendered response. Consequently, the economic recovery plan must include specific actions to revitalize the sectors that employ the most women. Women entrepreneurs can play a leading role in creating a resilient economy, not only because of the role they play in providing essential services to our population, but also because of their role in creating strong and diverse local economies.
Lastly, women entrepreneurs can be a driving force in creating a sustainable and green economy. According to a major Canada-wide study, Canadian women are more committed to taking action on climate change than Canadian men.
We need to increase support to women entrepreneurs, build on expertise from entrepreneurial ecosystem partners, including Femmessor, and work together to ensure that no businesses lag behind in generating the expected level of prosperity.
The various special assistance measures for women entrepreneurs naturally include financing and customized ongoing coaching to address the many needs identified. For example, at Femmessor, we place an emphasis on financing plus coaching, which has yielded a survival rate of approximately 80% for our companies after five years. There are also advisory services, codevelopment, customized training, and an emphasis on a diversity of female role models. Femmessor does all of these things.
I would like to congratulate the Canadian government for its leadership in the development of women's entrepreneurship, and for its sensitivity to the problems faced by women entrepreneurs during the crisis. Femmessor is grateful to the government for its trust in us, and for awarding us the largest grant under the federal Women Entrepreneurship Strategy to an organization that specializes in women's entrepreneurship. This support was also increased during the COVID-19 pandemic to help hundreds of women entrepreneurs transform their business model and adapt their products and services in order to become financially viable again.
Quite simply, what we are requesting is that financing for the many programs established by the government of Canada for entrepreneurs should also be extended to organizations like Femmessor, to ensure that women have full access to these forms of financial assistance and can benefit from the coaching we can give them.
From the standpoint of the Canadian economy, if women and men participated equally in entrepreneurship, it would mean a potential injection of $150 billion in gross domestic product, or GDP—a 6% rise in the current forecast GDP over the next decade. That would be equivalent to adding a new financial services sector to the economy, making it a significant step forward.
To conclude, more than ever, diversity and inclusion should be seen as ways to leverage economic growth, innovation, sustainable development and social development. All the evidence shows that Canada's sustainable development and economic development will require greater participation by entrepreneurial women and underrepresented communities, together with a contribution to help them achieve their full potential.
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