Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, thank you very much for your comments today and your description of the economic situation facing our country.
As you mentioned, Bill C-10 is a very lengthy bill of over 500 pages, and it includes many positive initiatives. We obviously spend most of our time as parliamentarians focusing on those initiatives with the biggest dollar amounts, the major infrastructure announcements. But I've noted that there are a number of other very important changes for people that are really quite worthy and deserve to be recognized. One in particular is the extension of the deadline for registered disability saving plan contributions. I know that in my riding, as I campaigned in the last election, I encountered many people who have children with disabilities or other family members who do, and this is something that's very important to our society.
RDSPs, as we know, are the new savings vehicle that our government has introduced to help parents and others set aside future funds to financially support children with severe disabilities. It's an important program with important changes that I'd like you to comment on, but I'd also like to underline how important this program really is by quoting someone who will actually benefit from the proposals that have been introduced.
Here is what Laura Mackenrot, a young woman from Vancouver who happens to be blind and is a strong disability advocate, had to say: “This is just going to be absolutely incredible for the disabled community nation-wide. This is really going to help improve people with disabilities, their lives and their quality of life. The rest of the world, the disabled communities of the world, are watching. They're watching Canada, so we're literally making history right now, and I'm very happy to be a part of it.”
I wonder, Minister, if you could comment on that.