Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
To Madam Blaney, thank you.
At the outset, there's absolutely no need to apologize. That's why I'm here. I gave a personal story, not because it's particularly remarkable but just because I think that we all have to share with each other some of the challenges in doing the work that we do.
I don't even speak here just of MPs. I'm speaking of the people who support the House. I'm speaking of folks like interpreters and, frankly, anybody who is in the business of trying to make our democracy function.
Let me speak directly to the question of interpreters. One thing that's important to remember is that there's a shortage of interpreters, and that is a significant challenge. We have interpreters who are in many different parts of the country. That solution, with or without hybrid, will mean that we need to allow those people to work virtually. The only way that we're going to have interpreters is to allow them to stay in their homes. We have a lot of people who are perfectly good as interpreters, but they're saying, “I'm not uprooting my family. I'm not leaving to go to Ottawa.” That's fair, and they should have the right to do that.
These issues are going to have to be fixed anyway, because remote interpretation is our future. If remote interpretation is our future, and we don't fix it, then the problems that you're talking about in terms of injury or problems for interpreters are going to continue with or without hybrid. Frankly, I would say that they need to be fixed irrespective of that. I think it's a very poor argument to not proceed.
All that I will say is that I too am very seized with that. The efforts that we're attempting to make at the Board of Internal Economy are very positive. I think there is co-operation that's taking place among parties to find solutions and seek collaboratively to ensure that every member of Parliament has access to interpretation in all of our meetings. It's essential.