Municipal Officials' Access to Paid Leave - Question Period
MS. CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Municipal Affairs. Today CBC highlighted the story of two municipal councillors, Megan Hodges, a Kings city councillor who found out a few days before she was elected in 2016 that she was pregnant and Deputy Mayor Emily Lutz, who is pregnant and due in March. When I had my three children, I was grateful to have the option to take paid leave. Elected officials in this province currently do not have that option. Will the Minister of Municipal Affairs agree to amend the Municipal Government Act to ensure that women who are elected to municipal councils have access to paid leave?
HON. DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE « » : Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank the member for bringing up that very important topic. I had the opportunity this morning to speak to both the councillor and the deputy mayor and I also want to stand in my place and thank them for bringing this very important issue forward for us to discuss. I also had the opportunity to speak with the UNSM president this morning; she's very interested in having this conversation in partnership with our department and that's exactly what we plan to do.
MS. CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, my second question is for the Premier. I am proud to be part of a Legislature that is one-third women. However, as I mentioned in Budget Estimates, I'm both happy and slightly depressed that it takes the presence of women in this House to acknowledge the needs of women. It wasn't that long ago when Alexa McDonough was first elected, that there were no washrooms for female MLAs in the Legislature. Currently, if a member wanted to take maternity leave, they would need to seek permission from the Speaker.
Clearly there are still many barriers to women's full participation in the decision-making and political life in this province. I'd like to ask the Premier, will he commit to making the changes necessary to ensure that sitting MLAs have access to paid leave?
THE PREMIER « » : Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the honourable member for the question. I've had the good fortune at different times seeing young men on this street that I've invited into this House to give them the tour, and I often tell them the story that Ms. McDonough came here and there was no washroom for her. This is important for these young men to understand this happened in my lifetime and in the lifetime of many of the members in this House. It's critical that we continue to make sure that our daughters and our mothers get an opportunity to participate fully in all aspects of our society.
The question brought forward by the honourable member, we will take under advisement and we'll move forward to make sure there are no barriers for anyone to participate in this House.
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