Mr. Chair, that would be me.
Essentially, with regard to the disability tax credit, there are two proposed measures. One is to clarify the criteria applicable to qualify with regard to the mental functions necessary for everyday life—and really, that's to make it clearer under what circumstances one would qualify. Again, this is in response to feedback that we received in part from the disability advisory committee of the Minister of National Revenue.
The second area relates to life-sustaining therapy, and this is, of course, where an individual has to undergo ongoing therapy. There have been issues in the past with how to determine the time required to be spent on such therapy. The proposals in the bill essentially expand, to some extent, the qualifying amounts of time that would be required under that to meet the requirements—again in response to feedback the department has received.
In terms of the Canada hiring program and how it relates to the wage subsidy, you look at the reference. You take a reference period in March or April, a one-month reference period, and then apply a percentage to the incremental hiring from that reference period over the months of the program, and an employer can calculate the wage subsidy that the employer would be entitled to or the amount in the hiring program, and take the better of the two.
Essentially, the objective of that is to support firms that have been significantly affected—employers who have been significantly affected—during the pandemic as they enter that recovery phase, so it supports the rebuilding of the business and the workforce in that period.