Thank you.
I thank committee members and our witnesses for their indulgence and stamina.
It seems to me that one of the issues we haven't done very well with as a country in dealing with poverty is the issue of the integration of provincial and federal initiatives, policies, and programs. I know your recommendation number 54 speaks to the idea that if we do have this basic annual income for people with severe disabilities, the provinces will save money, which they should then put back into appropriate programs, which I think references that very need.
When your former colleague, the very distinguished Senator Mike Kirby, whom Mr. Lobb referenced, came before our committee, he spoke about how the social infrastructure of the country is not designed for people with disabilities. In his case, he was speaking specifically of people with mental health issues. For example, 15 weeks of sickness benefits have to be taken at the same time, whereas people who have mental health issues or suffer from depression could experience these episodically. That could be the same for people with MS and people with certain types of cancer who are seeking treatments. We don't really need to change the whole program; we just need to make the program more responsive to the actual facts of illness. I think the program should be longer, but I'm wondering if you could just talk about that, how the social infrastructure is not really, in some cases, designed for people who need it the most, and those changes could be very effectively and quickly implemented.