Human Resources committee  I can't comment on other government programs that are ongoing. I obviously follow what's going on in terms of affordability programs that have been put forward. Nothing about what we've said should suggest a lack of urgency. Persons with disabilities have been in the most precarious situations for far too long in Canada.

Human Resources committee  I'll start. To go back to the question of engagement with the provinces, yes, this is absolutely fundamental to this process. That's the journey we're on at all levels, collectively with the provinces so they all hear the same thing and bilaterally with them so they can understand the specifics of how it fits with them.

Human Resources committee  No. In fact, we're working very closely with the provinces. I'm sorry if I said anything else.

Human Resources committee  I'll give you a sense of the logic behind it, building on what I said at the beginning in terms of the framework legislation. Not only is it an opportunity to make sure that the voices of the disabilities community are part of the conversation to feed into the program design, but we also know that the nature of disabilities programming across the country—my colleague talked about this—is dynamic.

Human Resources committee  Provinces have consistently told us that they like the framework legislation approach rather than our presenting them with what it's going to look like and their having to figure out what to do about it. They're involved in the conversation at the beginning. Every conversation we've had with the provinces has told us that they like the approach and they feel engaged.

Human Resources committee  As I said, I can't speculate. To be honest, I can't speculate on how long Parliament will consider the bill for. Once the bill moves through Parliament—which is why we're obviously hoping it moves quickly—then we can move ahead with the next phases of it. Once we have the benefit designed, then we have to design the implementation and do the regulations.

Human Resources committee  I'm sorry. I don't have time to give you a list of all the pieces we're looking at. We've had some requests already from the committee, for which we'll provide that kind of data if there are specific requests. We'll do everything we can to provide that to the committee, because we do think it's important that you have the most information possible to advance the bill.

Human Resources committee  Yes, there are other sources of information. I mentioned in the beginning that one thing we've been doing is working with the disabilities community for them to help us understand this issue. Rather than telling them what's right for them, we want them to tell us what they think is going to work best for the community.

Human Resources committee  One thing I don't want to do is put a time limit or specify an exact time of how long it's going to take to fully engage the disabilities community. We're doing that already. As we talked about, this is an incredibly complex environment to deliver a new benefit in. I'm fully cognizant that the disabilities community would like this benefit to start now because the need is there.

Human Resources committee  We have a lot of information. There are databases containing information on the income of every Canadian. We understand the problems being experienced by persons with disabilities and know what their annual income is. From this standpoint, the problem is in evidence across Canada.

Human Resources committee  We don't draft the regulations until Parliament has finished its consideration of the legislation. We are going through a very deliberative process on the engagement side, as you mentioned, and working also as a department in terms of making sense of it and trying to bring advice forward about what should be in the regulations.

Human Resources committee  What I'm saying is that when we formally start the regulatory process, notionally we start to think around that time frame. There are a lot of considerations that have to go into that, including the level of engagement, the amount of time and the input we get from the disability community through that process, because one thing we don't want to do is shortchange them in terms of their critical input to this.

Human Resources committee  The intent of the federal benefit is to be almost a supplement to a provincial benefit. It's to sit with it, not replace it—in the same way, for example, the guaranteed income supplement works with the old age security system. We see this as a supplement. It will complement it and be harmonized with the provincial benefit.

Human Resources committee  That's a question the minister has to consider based on feedback. Provincial programs differ. Most federal programs are the same across the country, but that is part of the conversation we need to have, including how the benefit will best meet the needs of the various people.

Human Resources committee  They have expressed enthusiastic willingness to be engaged in this. In fact, they have been enthusiastic both on the intent of the benefit and on the approach we've taken, including the framework legislation. This is exactly what they think needs to be done and exactly the process they feel needs to be conducted to get it right.