I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 105 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 taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the Standing Orders of the House of Commons. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.
Colleagues, 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 microphone is turned on. In order to prevent incidents and safeguard the hearing health of our interpreters, I invite all participants to ensure that they speak into the microphone into which their headset is plugged and to avoid manipulating the earbuds by placing them on the table, away from the microphone, when they are not in use.
I would now like to welcome our witnesses for today.
For our first panel, from Air Canada, we have Michael Rousseau, president and chief executive officer, by video conference. Welcome to you, sir. He is joined by David Rheault, vice-president of government and community relations; Tom Stevens, vice-president of customer experience and operations strategy, by video conference; and Kerianne Wilson, director of customer accessibility.
For the second panel today, from Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, we have with us Professor David Lepofsky, who is the chair. From the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, we have Heather Walkus, who is the national chair, joining us by video conference.
We'll begin with our first panel. For that, I will turn the floor over to Mr. Rousseau for five minutes of opening remarks.
The floor is yours, sir.