A federal government proposal to make free menstrual products available in federally regulated workplaces is garnering broad support.
At the heart of the plan is 鈥渁 question of gender equality,鈥� Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.
Announced last week in the , the proposal is expected to benefit approximately 40 per cent of employees in federally regulated workspaces 鈥� public servants, RCMP members and employees of banks, telecommunications and transportation companies.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said she would support any policy that 鈥渢akes away barriers to education that relates to menstrual stigma.鈥�
NDP MP Matthew Dube agreed with Trudeau that providing free tampons and pads to women is a matter of fairness.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fundamentally unequal when you consider that men don鈥檛 require these products in their day-to-day life,鈥� he said.
Despite the widespread support, there was at least one detractor who believes that the idea insults and panders to women.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not the role of the government to subsidize that,鈥� Maxime Bernier, the leader of the new People鈥檚 Party, told reporters on Monday. 鈥淎re we paying for toilet paper? It鈥檚 ridiculous.鈥�
Over the weekend, the Quebec MP sarcastically: 鈥淗urrah! Our caring and generous government is removing another major social inequity by solving the Great Menstrual Products Unavailability Crisis of the early 21st century. How in the world were previous generations able to manage their lives without such help from Ottawa?!鈥�
Melanie Joly, the Minister of Tourism and Official Languages said that she didn鈥檛 think women would welcome 鈥渃omments about how they should be taking care of their own hygiene coming from Maxime Bernier.鈥�
The Canada Gazette notice announcing the proposal said that women without access to menstrual products sometimes 鈥渢urn to unsuitable improvised solutions such as using toilet paper and paper towels to act in place of tampons and pads.鈥� Others extend the use of their products, which poses major health risks.
These problems were particularly acute in remote locations, the notice added.
A 2018 survey from Plan Canada International found that 70 per cent of women have missed work, school or social activities because of their period. One-third of all Canadian women under the age of 25 experienced 鈥減eriod poverty鈥� and struggled to afford menstrual products, the survey said.
On CTV鈥檚 Power Play, Jean-Yves Duclos, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, said that the plan is less about subsidizing the costs of menstrual products for well-compensated federal employees than it is about setting an example.
鈥淲e need to, in 2019, recognize these types of products and services are essential,鈥� he said.
In 2015, the federal government lifted the HST and GST on pads and tampons, but British Columbia is the only province to require free menstrual products in schools.
The government will consult on its proposal for 60 days.
It is unclear what it will cost employers to provide the products free of charge.
