Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon to my colleagues.
Thank you to our witnesses. Again, it was very compelling testimony.
Mr. Lepofsky, my name is Wayne Long. I'm a Liberal member of Parliament, the member for Saint John—Rothesay. I have a blue blazer, a popping pink shirt and messy brown and grey hair today.
Mr. Lepofsky, you have my respect. With MP Falk and MP Chabot, I was a part of this committee in 2019 when it passed the accessibility act. We're very proud of that.
One thing I'll say about you, Mr. Lepofsky, is that you always told it like it was, the good and the bad, so you have my respect.
Ms. Hewitt, I do think that the Leafs will win the Stanley Cup this year.
Also, Mr. Mills, you came through New Brunswick. You were north of Saint John, I believe, and I don't believe I've met you, but you have my respect for what you did.
I hearken back to 10 or 11 years ago and one of our good friends. His name is Andy Bell, and this is a side note. His father's name was Tom Bell, and Tom Bell was a Conservative member of Parliament in Saint John—Rothesay for almost 25 years. Andy is disabled; he's in a wheelchair. Again, this was 10 or 11 years ago.
I remember a group of us saying, “Listen, Abber,” as we called him, “let's go out for dinner.” We decided that we were going to go out and we picked him up, but it became very apparent how few restaurants we could get into. You know, again, we never really thought about it, but I would say that out of the 10 we had selected, there were only two of those restaurants that we could get a wheelchair into.
I also think back to my time. I've been a member of Parliament since 2015, but I think back to how many events I've attended in my riding that really weren't accessible to people with disabilities.
I have a question for you, Ms. Hewitt and Mr. Mills. We have moved forward, and people do mean well, as you said, but that doesn't get us to where we need to get.
We'll start with you, Ms. Hewitt. What specific recommendations would you suggest to the committee that we include in the report to ensure meaningful progress towards a barrier-free Canada? What more would you recommend that we put in this report?