Okay.
Thank you all for coming, and thank you for the knowledge and the passion you bring.
I do want to congratulate the Canadian Paraplegic Association for the initiative they've taken the last couple of years to bring attention to these issues before Parliament. I see that David Hinton is here.
I'll just mention that next year is the 65th anniversary of the CPA, and they're looking to have 65 members of Parliament in wheelchairs next year on this day. I'm sure he will take names starting today. The parliamentary secretary has indicated to me that he'd be interested in doing that.
I think all of you are right in saying that we don't need a lot of studies or a lot more analysis. We know there are things we can do, I think, in fairly short order—social infrastructure items, training items, and on accessibility issues, etc.—to make the situation better for persons with disabilities.
I'm certainly struck by the comments—and we've certainly seen evidence of this before—that we don't have a uniform social infrastructure. Last week we heard from Mike Kirby that the social infrastructure we have, whether it's EI or a number of other things, really doesn't suit people with mental health issues. It's episodic, for example—and the EI system does not suit people with these issues. It seems to me this might be the case here as well.
You've made some specific recommendations, and I'm very pleased you have. You've given us some specific things on disability tax credits and housing. I think we heard Mike Kirby say last week that housing was the number one issue for him, and social infrastructure was second.
What I want to ask you about is the fact that we don't have a national persons with disabilities act in Canada. Would that be a way of bringing together a national strategy that would perhaps alleviate some of the inequities that exist province to province? You are entirely right in saying that if you go from province to province, you find different home care and different income supports, drug coverage, accessibility supports, and some are better than others. Should we have national standards, and how do we get there if that is the case?
I'd ask anybody to respond who wants to pitch in on that.