Thank you for having me.
I am so excited, Mr. Lewis, that you're bringing this bill up. I'll tell you what my issues are. I have a lot of issues with long-term care. As you know, we are struggling in many provinces, especially in my backyard, with accommodations for seniors. A lot of my families want to keep their parents with them. When one spouse passes away, the children will take on the responsibility of taking care of the other parent. I have a particular issue that just came up today, as a matter of fact. I did not know I was going to be on this committee, so it's a perfect question for me to ask because I'm so excited about this bill. I'm going to go back to talk to you about the shortage, the fact that we do not have enough labour to help create these accommodations.
Someone whose father passed away about eight months ago contacted my office today. Her mother is still okay but needs minimal help, but not to the point where they have to put her into long-term care. She wants to adapt her home to accommodate her mother so that she can do for her mother what her mother did for her growing up. Here's the catch. She priced out what it would cost to put in an in-law suite and she was able to shop around. The wait time is 18 months. I said, “Wow, that's a long time for them to even get started and then you're looking at probably another three, four or maybe even more months to complete it. Why is that?” It's because there's a shortage. There are not enough people to complete the work.
This bill would not only encourage young people and all people, women included, to get involved in the trades, but it would also help with the situation we currently have with infrastructure, not just in my backyard but, I think, right across this country. Would you agree?