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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, M arch 1 6 , 2 0 1 7 | 2 4 Will the 2 0 1 7 federal budget reflect gender-based analysis as promised? I t's no secret that on the whole, federal bud gets have favoured men. With the March 22 federal budget, exactly two weeks after Inter national Woman' s Day -- themed `Be Bold for Change', Canadian women may have reason to celebrate. Finance Minister Bill Morneau issued a state ment late last year about the pending change. The Morneau statement said, "to ensure that the government continues to deliver real and meaningful changes for all Canadians, it will submit Budget 2017, and all future budgets, to a more rigorous analysis by completing and publishing a gender-based analysis of budgetary measures." Gender-based analysis in the federal budget would take into account the different ways tax and spending measures might affect men and women. The end result would be to identify and reduce the inequalities on how men and women are treated by pub lic policy. There has been mixed reaction to this pending change. Some positive and some negative. My opinion is Guest Contributor this is a step for ward. Whether you are a company doing business in Canada or the federal govern ment, you are serving specihc groups. The better that these groups can be defined the better job at determining how to allocate scarce resources. Take Netflix for example, one of its competi tive strengths is that it has signif cant data on those using its service. It knows the age, gender Dollars & Sense Peter Watson and interests of its audi ence. That allows Netflix to better serve its target market. Perhaps you have heard the expression "data mining." Firms want to fn d out as much as they can about their client base. The same modernday business logic that companies live by should be used by the federal government. D efne the public policy you would like to implement, understand the details of the market and then plan accordingly. My thoughts are that Canadians deserve even better transparency than the new proposed gen der-based analysis of budgetary measures. We should see full details of how our tax dol lars are being invested. Gender analysis is just the starting point. Government budgets should break down how its spending benefts specifc groups in cluding age, income bracket and geographic location. The more meaningful subcategories, the better. This is not the frst time gender analysis has been considered. Back in 1995 the idea was in troduced, but not signifcantly used. Next Wednesday, after the budget is released, hopefully women' s groups will be celebrating. Women will beneft, Canada will beneft... it makes perfect sense. Submitted by Peter Watson of Peter Watson Investments and Aligned Capital Partners Inc., MBA, CFP R.FP, CIM, FCSI., Certified Financial Planner -- For more news, visit oakvillebeaver.com w w w .e d w a rd jo n e s.c o m Does your financial advisor know your life goals? Marc Nutford - F ina n cia l A d viso r 2 3 8 7 Trafalgar Road, U n it E2, O a kville, ON L6H 6 K 7 905-844-4043 - www.edwardjones.com/marc-nutford A V O ID DRAGGING YOUR FAMILY THROUGH DIVORCE COURT. Lower the emotional damage on everyone now, before it's too late. MEDIATION Choose the civilized way to separate. Stop fighting, start moving forward. Save thousands ... and stay out of court. E-mail: d a w n @ c o r n e r s to n e - m e d ia tio n .c o m or call: 9 0 5 - 5 6 7 - 6 8 3 3 Dawn is an Accredited Family M ediator w ith a degree in psychology and a Masters in Law from Osgoode Hall Law School, with a specialization in Alternative Dispute Resolution. Dawn has been m ediating fam ilies fu ll tim e since 2 0 0 0. Edward Jo n e s M A K IN G S E N S E O F IN V E S T IN G M e m b e r - C an a d ian Investor Protection Fund CORNERSTONE MEDIATION 447 SPEERS RD, UNIT 5, OAKVILLE, ON The Latest In Hearing Technology World's Smallest Hearing Aid The MOXI Now SPECIAL: It's a c t u a lly th is s m a ll! 50%OFF Per Pair Pa r a m e d ic a l % S E R V I C E S LAKESHORE H E A R I N G Established Since 1979 E -m a il: lp h s 1 1 3 @ c o g e c o .n e t · W e b s ite : la k e s h o re p a ra m e d ic a l.c o m 113 JONES STREET, OAKVILLE, ON · 9 0 5 -8 2 7 -2 9 0 2