Thank you very much for that question.
Let's start with what we shouldn't do. Right now, the federal opportunities fund, which is that $40 million, is being used largely for direct-to-employer wage subsidies. This is a huge problem. The way forward in getting businesses to open their doors, getting businesses to get over their fear of hiring people with disabilities, and getting rid of the misconceptions and misperceptions and the stereotypes, is through education and awareness.
When I stand before a group of business owners and I tell them about my story, one or two or three always come up to me at the end and say, “I want to do this. How do I do this? How do I get started?”
Governments can't solve this problem; neither can social service workers solve this problem. The problem can only be solved by the private sector because the people in the private sector are the ones who have to open their doors. How do we do that? We engage them. We educate them. We show them that by being inclusive employers they will reap the benefits from a P and L and bottom-line point of view; no more discussion about charity, no more discussion about legislative compliance, no more discussion about anything other than the economic case.
So what can the federal government do?