Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, everyone, for coming today. I think we can all agree that we want to find the best way to honour our veterans and their sacrifice. I think we all have different opinions about how best to do that.
I want to start off with a quick question for Mr. Schellenberger.
Of course, yours was one of the two “nay” votes at second reading, and I want to thank you for that because I have often been a holder of minority opinions. Sometimes they're not the most popular things, but it's always good to have those differences of opinion out there.
You raised the question about how, if it becomes a holiday, some of the meaning could be lost. However, one of your colleagues at the last meeting here, Scott Armstrong, said that in Nova Scotia, when they brought in the Remembrance Day Act, they actually saw attendance at ceremonies go up. I think that part of the discussion about whether it should be a statutory holiday in each province would be better had by the provinces themselves. Currently it is a holiday in six provinces and three territories. It isn't in Ontario and Quebec, and Manitoba has gone in its own direction and businesses have to be shut down until one. Nova Scotia has its own Remembrance Day Act.
Do you think it's possible, perhaps, that we could actually see attendance at ceremonies go up if people have the time available?