I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 103 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Monday, November 20, 2023, the committee is meeting to study accessible transportation for persons with disabilities.
Today's meeting is being held in hybrid format, pursuant to the Standing Orders of the House of Commons. Members are attending in person, in the room, or remotely using the Zoom application.
Although this room is equipped with a sophisticated audio system, feedback events can occur. These can be extremely harmful to interpreters and can cause serious injuries. The most common cause of sound feedback is an earpiece worn too close to a microphone. We therefore ask all participants to exercise a high degree of caution when handling the earpieces, especially when your microphone or your neighbour's is turned on. To prevent incidents and safeguard the hearing health of our interpreters, I invite participants to ensure that they speak into the microphone to which their headset is plugged into and to avoid manipulating the earbuds by placing them on the table away from the microphone when they are not in use.
I'd now like to welcome our witnesses for the first hour.
Appearing before us today, we have, from the Canadian Transportation Agency, France Pégeot, chair and chief executive officer; and Tom Oommen, director general, analysis and outreach branch. From the Department of Employment and Social Development, we have Stephanie Cadieux, chief accessibility officer; and from the Office of the Auditor General, we have Karen Hogan, the Auditor General of Canada; Milan Duvnjak, principal; and Susie Fortier, director.
Welcome to all of you joining us here and virtually.
We'll begin with opening remarks, and for that, I will turn it over to Madame Pégeot.
The floor is yours. You have five minutes.