Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Hi, everybody. I am Michelle Ferreri, the member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha. I'm happy to be here. This is a very important bill that we are discussing.
I would like to start my question with Thomas—if I may call you Thomas. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Thank you to all of you for your testimony.
Michelle, yours was very powerful as well.
Your points about a national employment strategy really hit home. I think you're bang on with a lot of what you were saying about making sure workplace employers are open-minded to a lot of this. What I really want to delve into is.... You referred to the fact that you're supportive of this bill. I think everybody is supportive of helping and doing what we need to do, doing the right thing. There's a fine line, and I'm trying not to be too critical, but we have to be fairly critical to ensure that it is done properly. You made reference to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, AODA, and that you are supporting their recommendations. It's a fairly harsh letter.
If you don't mind, I'm just going to read a couple of things, and I'm going to get your feedback, if that's okay. It says, “In summary, here is what's wrong with the bill as it is now written”. I'm not going to read the whole thing, because there are a few pages here, but I'm going to read a couple of paragraphs.
The bill does not ensure that there is a swift, fair, non-bureaucratic and accessible way for people with disabilities to apply for the Canada Disability Benefit, or a fair and swift appeal process for people who apply for it and are refused it.
The bill’s stated purpose is itself impoverished. It does not seek to eliminate poverty among people with disabilities. It does not even seek to significantly reduce poverty facing people with disabilities. ... The most tiny improvement for people with disabilities would entirely fulfil that paltry goal.
It also talks about how the bill “sets no minimum amount for the Canada Disability Benefit or a start date for the Government to start paying”, as well as the age.
How do you feel about this? In trying to meet those timely...and get it done and get this rolled out, how feasible do you think these recommendations are?