Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you well know, over the past weeks Cabinet and concerned federal departments have been reviewing and discussing the recent ruling of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on pay equity.

We are all committed to the principle of paying women and men equally for work of equal value.

However, we believe that the Tribunal chose a methodology that does not meet the requirements of the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Equal Wages Guidelines, 1986. There is also a need to clarify the inconsistencies that exist among the various rulings on pay equity, including the Tribunal ruling, the ruling rendered by Justice Muldoon in the Bell Canada case and the decision of the Supreme Court in Syndicat des employés de production du Québec et de l’Acadie v. Canada (Canadian Human Rights Commission).

The government has an obligation to make sure that the law on pay equity is sound and clear and fair, for now and for the future. We also have the obligation to ensure that the ruling of the Tribunal is consistent with the law. This is why I will, on behalf of the Government of Canada, ask the Trial Division of the Federal Court of Canada to review the Tribunal’s ruling. Copies of our application for judicial review will be available from the department’s Communications Branch. The application is being filed in Court this morning.

I will now ask my colleague Marcel Massé to comment.