Madam Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to stand and speak to this motion today. Too often, when we search for a definition of “visitability”, it comes up as “no results found”. I think this is one of the major reasons why we are discussing this matter today. Therefore, I rise to talk about Motion No. 157 and the importance of visitability.
This is a measure of a place's ease for people with disabilities: in other words, how accessible and easily visited a location can be. This is a subject that is often overlooked. I would like the House to recognize how much of an impact visitability can have on Canadians of all ages and abilities. More specifically, this motion can help Canadians with disabilities all over the country.
However, while the motion is a good start, more work needs to be done on the subject, which is why I am asking the Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities to include visitability in the upcoming accessibility legislation. I hope to see some concrete measures put in place when that legislation finally does come out. It is legislation that we have been waiting for patiently for two and a half years.
This motion would emphasize the efforts of companies, contractors, and builders who are already ensuring that there are visitability principles in new construction. It would work to encourage those who are doing this currently, and encourage those who are not to take up the banner. We want to influence future construction projects to become more accessible. We need to set a higher standard of visitability than what we currently have, which is why we fully support Motion No. 157, as I know many members in the House do.
I would like to thank the member for Tobique—Mactaquac for sponsoring this motion. His efforts are appreciated. I believe many other members in the House feel the same way.
This is an area that has always been and will continue to be close to my heart. I have family members who have benefited from visitability, as well as family members who have suffered due to lack of it. My mother was injured in a car accident when I was 10 years old. She was unable to walk and sustained a permanent head injury. I can tell members that I have been in places, whether visiting doctors, friends, family members, or in fact her own residence, where visitability was a major issue. It showed me how important this subject is to Canadians. I want to continue to build upon the hard work that has been put in by the member.
I believe this is something that would help many people in our country. I do not think I am alone in wanting to help Canadians. I think that everyone in the House wants to improve visitability for persons with disabilities in our country. I know that we can do better than we are doing right now.
Historically, our party has given a lot of support to Canadians living with disabilities, and I am very proud of this. I am proud that the Conservative Party helped those who needed it. One way we have supported the community of those living with disabilities is through tax credits. Our previous government introduced the home accessibility tax credit and the home renovation tax credit.
The home accessibility tax credit allowed Canadians with disabilities or those over 65 to save 15% on up to $10,000 in renovations to their residence, which is considerable for anyone. This allowed individuals to pay for walk-in bathtubs, wheel-in showers, and wheelchair ramps. It is a great benefit to any Canadian in need by significantly improving ease of access and visitability.
Next, the home renovation tax credit was introduced in 2009. One in three households took advantage of it. It saved three million Canadians an average of $700 and was certainly a huge success. It was our future plan to make this credit a permanent fixture.
These two credits helped Canadians increase visitability in their own homes. The previous Conservative government demonstrated its support for Canadians living with disabilities. We plan to continue this support. Every single Canadian has to be valued, no matter who he or she is. There is no reason why we cannot keep up this effort. We are doing so thorough this motion today, as well as through the legislation we are waiting for from the government.
This motion is not about any single party. It is certainly not about our party. It is a motion that I consider non-partisan in nature, which is why we as a House need to support it in unity. It is about how we can help Canadians live their best life through visitability.
All of us know someone who could benefit from improved visitability. It could be one's grandparents, mom, dad, or even children. It could be a neighbour, and it could be a friend. It is essential that visitability be included in the upcoming accessibility legislation.
We all have the potential to make a positive impact in our communities, and we must take up this fight now to ensure that it happens. We need to ensure that this becomes a reality, and we need to ensure that no partisanship creeps in. This is not a Conservative, Liberal, or even an NDP issue. It is the responsibility of each member of this House to ensure that action is taken. We need action.
I have faith that the new minister will look at this motion and ensure that the legislation that comes to the House reflects what the House is going to ask, which is that visitability become a core piece of any piece of legislation drafted with the accessibility act.
I, like many others, will be keeping a close eye on the upcoming accessibility legislation. We are patiently waiting to see whether visitability will be taken seriously. I hope the minister is taking this subject seriously, but if not, we will find out, hopefully very soon. Two and a half years is far too long to wait for a piece of legislation that was promised to this house immediately upon the forming of the government.
At this point, we are on our third minister for persons with disabilities. We have seen a stop and start on at least two occasions, and quite frankly, at this point, I am not sure where the legislation sits. It is unfortunate that through the issues the government has had with regard to those fulfilling this role, Canadians have not been put first and at the centre. If they were, we would not be sitting here two and a half years later with absolutely no information to move forward with.
It is important to recognize that the member's motion is coming from a government MP, someone who is sits on the government side. It shows that it is not just us on this side of the House who are patiently waiting for this legislation to come forward. It is actually members on all sides of this House who are saying that we need to act and ensure that the government is moving forward with an accessibility act, a piece of its platform, something that was promised upon the immediate forming of the government.
It is not just members of this House who are waiting patiently, and they are definitely not the most important people, either. There are Canadians from coast to coast to coast who are saying that we absolutely need to have legislation put in place. We need to recognize the difficulties persons with disabilities struggle with in society every day and do everything we can to ensure that they have the opportunity to be part of our society in a meaningful way.
I know I am probably near the end of my allotted time. I would just like to call upon the minister to stand in the House and tell us when the legislation is going to come, explain what the priorities are going to be, and respond to this motion by ensuring that visitability will be the cornerstore of what we see coming forward in the accessibility bill.
I am thankful for the opportunity to speak today. Again, I would like to thank the member for graciously bringing forth this motion to the House.