Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, everyone, for appearing today.
Ms. Gallo, I am the former chair of the Catholic school board in Guelph, and I share your feeling. I can tell you that most of the people I've talked to in Guelph share your feeling, and the feeling of the Dominion Command, and frankly the feeling of Mr. Blais, that this day should not—sorry, I won't speak for Mr. Blais, but the others—be made a statutory holiday, which would enable or in fact require schools to be closed and businesses to be closed.
In Guelph, we commemorate Remembrance Day in a remarkable way, but as I've said before, there's no amount of commemoration or compensation that could be given to our veterans to acknowledge their sacrifices. Knowing that it is not going to be a statutory holiday if this bill were passed, we should just elevate the day to that of a legal holiday, to give the proper recognition, as Mr. Blais said, to the sacrifice of our veterans and honour our sacred covenant to them.
Making it an equal day—not a statutory day, but as a sign of reverence, a holiday—would your position change if you knew that it would simply be elevated to a holiday without the requirement for schools being closed and businesses being closed?
Did you hear my question, Ms. Gallo.