Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses for coming. It's a particular pleasure to see the city council for Winnipeg, even though you represent a ward on the other side of the Red River.
I have two questions. We've actually had a series of witnesses that have talked about society's trend to keep kids inside, be it due to video games or safety concerns. Our justice minister, another Manitoba MP, has been trying to make our streets and roads and cities safer by introducing some pretty tough legislation to keep criminals in jail and reduce house arrest and hopefully provide comfort and safety for kids and reassurance to their parents that it is safe to play outside.
I wonder, Mr. Steeves, if you could talk about the importance of safety to encourage kids to play outside, because I know that as a city councillor, part of your role is to enforce the laws using the Winnipeg police force. If anyone else would like to comment on that, I'd be interested in your comments about that.
Secondly, we've talked a lot about infrastructure and arenas and so on. We have a lot of new Canadians and multi-generational Canadian families that may not play hockey or be interested in what we would call traditional sports. So I wonder how planning for flexibility in the recreational investments we provide could help, or what planning is taking place to ensure that facilities that we build reach out to all demographics, regardless of their country of origin or ethnicity?
I'll throw those two questions out and see who would like to answer.