‘Once a leader,’ Manitoba blamed for falling behind on pay equity

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This article was published 19/03/2025 (233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial and federal governments have been accused of not just ignoring the disparity between men’s and women’s wages in Manitoba, but moving backwards on the issue.

Wednesday is Equal Pay Day in Manitoba, which marks how long women in the province have to work on average to earn the same amount men did in the past 365 days. Using Statistics Canada data on annual average weekly wage rates, women in Manitoba would have to work 79 more days to make the same amount as men.

“Manitoba was once a leader, we were the first province to have pay equity legislation back in the 80s, but that legislation has never been updated, so it’s now 40 years old … we need comprehensive legislation and an action plan to actually close this gap,” Molly McCracken, with the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said Wednesday.

When the provincial NDP was in Opposition, they lobbied for pay transparency legislation that would require employers to include pay information in job postings, with some having to file pay audit reports with information on gender diversity and wages for employees.

It was shot down both times. The NDP has not introduced a similar bill since being elected.

Manitoba remains far behind provinces like Quebec, which has more modernized pay equity legislation that applies to both the public and private sector, and B.C., which has pay transparency rules in place, McCracken said.

“That’s why Manitoba has the highest child poverty rate, because those are single parents, mainly female-dominated households that don’t have enough money to make ends meet,” she said.

Labour and Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino, who brought forward the legislation as the labour critic both times, said she still wants to move forward on pay transparency, but it’s on a long list of priorities.

“After a PC government that didn’t even have a labour department, that never worked on any kinds of workers’ rights, safety, health, dignity, nothing, there was a backlog of things that (we) really need to address as a government first and foremost,” she said.

At the federal level, McCracken said advocates were “very disappointed” to see Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet cut a number of equity-focused minister positions, including the position of minister for women and gender equality and youth, previously held by Marci Ien.

McCracken called it a “step back” that appeared to be a response to less-than-progressive values coming from south of the border led by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“That seems to be the signal that people are getting, with a chill that is in place because of what’s happening in the U.S., because parties want to attract the male vote,” she said. “We still need gender equality.”

Federal NDP critic for women and gender equality Leah Gazan criticized Carney for cutting the cabinet position and moving the file, which is normally taken on by a woman, to Steven Guilbeault’s portfolio.

“Carney is telling women and gender-diverse people that our experience doesn’t matter, and that we’re better off being represented by a man,” Gazan said in a news release Wednesday. “At a time when we need representation the most, the Liberals have abandoned us.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca