OTTAWA, April 7, 2018 /CNW/ - The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade, and the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs issued the following statement regarding their attendance at this week's Labour 7 (L7) Summit, which brought together heads of key labour organizations from G7 countries and the European Union to discuss and form policy recommendations:
"When we work together with partners like organized labour, we achieve better results for Canadians. The nature of work is changing, and ensuring that our workers and industries are prepared to embrace the opportunities and challenges that come with innovation is a top priority of the Government of Canada and the L7 alike. To help prepare Canadians for changing work environments, our government has taken significant steps to enhance STEM skills, improve access to skills training, improve federal labour standards, and make sure that pensions and other key benefits are stronger and more accessible.
Last week, G7 Employment and Innovation Ministers met to discuss how they're seizing the opportunities of a transforming economy to create the kind of growth that works for everybody. This week, we were pleased to participate in the L7 Summit, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This was the first of many engagements with civil society ahead of the G7 Leaders' summit in June. The Summit provided us the opportunity to discuss a number of key issues with labour partners including: gender equality, workplace harassment, cyber violence, climate change and a just transition, income inequality, global supply chains and due diligence procedures, and the future of work.
As Ministers, we took advantage of this opportunity to reaffirm Canada's goal of mainstreaming gender equality across all of the G7's work. We stressed our commitment to creating sustainable change, and highlighted some of Canada's own domestic and international initiatives aimed at breaking down long-standing barriers to gender equality and promoting the equal participation of women in the workforce. For example, domestically, we're introducing proactive pay equity legislation and a new Employment Insurance Parental Sharing Benefit and improving access to affordable, high quality early learning and child care; internationally, our progressive trade agenda is about engaging underrepresented people in trade, creating access to more markets, and a voice in decision-making. If we do that well, we can improve not only our bottom line but the lives of more Canadian workers and their families. We are also advancing the role of women and girls through our feminist foreign policy, and have adopted a historic Gender Results Framework that informs all of the government's major initiatives.
Our government knows that we can't move forward when half of us are being held back. That's why we need to ensure that all Canadians, regardless of gender, have a real and fair shot at success. We are no longer going to play with half of the team on the bench.
Labour groups have a long legacy of supporting women's empowerment. We were proud to stand alongside them this week at the L7 Summit. Our government values its successful tri-partite partnership with labour and business that achieves real results for Canadians and the L7 was an important opportunity to talk about this model with other international stakeholders. Let's continue to work together to achieve our common goal of creating a more equal, inclusive and prosperous world."
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SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada
Media Relations Office, Summits Management Office (Global Affairs Canada), 1-833-CAN-G718 (1-833-226-4718), [email protected]; Matt Pascuzzo, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, P.C., M.P., Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, 819-654-4183; Célia Canon, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Status of Women, 613-862-3270; Adam Austen, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, [email protected]; Pierre-Olivier Herbert, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of International Trade, 343-203-7332
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