Sports  Mr. Speaker, as a former athlete who represented Canada and stood at the podium proudly, I can assure the House that we think of athletes at the core of every decision we make. As part of our ongoing due diligence and our quest for accountability, transparency, and the effective

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to support the work of my colleague, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, as he leads our work on the Marrakesh Treaty. Over one million Canadians who suffer from vision loss, including me, really need to have this kind of a

Copyright Act  moved for leave to introduce Bill C-11, An Act to amend the Copyright Act (access to copyrighted works or other subject-matter for persons with perceptual disabilities). (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Copyright Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to Bill C-11, an act to amend the Copyright Act which concerns access to copyrighted works or other subject-matter for persons with perceptual disabilities. Over 800,000 Canadians live with blindness or partial sight, and around three m

Copyright Act  Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons we were so excited to get this bill going is because we have the consensus of all parties in the House. The members of the Conservative Party and the NDP have been very co-operative. This is an opportunity for us to get this done, to be one of the

Copyright Act  Mr. Speaker, the number one bullet in my mandate letter is to engage in a consultation process that will ultimately result in accessibility legislation at the federal level. Recognizing the exact challenges that the member has raised, we know we can do better in Canada. That is

Copyright Act  Mr. Speaker, the idea is that the Marrakesh treaty focuses on not making profit from making available accessible materials. If publishers, which I would personally think would be a fantastic advancement for publishing companies around the world, decided to make something availabl

Copyright Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the member opposite for his tireless effort in this file. It has been an absolute pleasure and honour to work with him as we move this forward. Our government is extremely open to providing new and innovative opportunities for Canadians o

Copyright Act  Mr. Speaker, that is a very important question. We know that Marrakesh focuses primarily on the visually impaired, the blind, and others with more perceptual disabilities related to font size in accessible material. I have met with a lot of leaders in the deaf and hard-of-hearing

Copyright Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite and all of my colleagues here in the House for their heartfelt support and their consideration of this very important issue. I just wanted to correct the number of countries that have actually ratified the Marrakesh treaty. It is 16. Cana

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, I am particularly excited that the very first part in my mandate letter is to engage in a consultation process that will lead to federal accessibility legislation. I just met this morning with the Trans Canada Trail executives, and I am excited to be working with the

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, I am working with stakeholders from a variety of disability groups as we design an inclusive and engaging consultation process that will lead to federal accessibility legislation, which will include access issues on a variety of areas of federal jurisdiction. This is

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague from Laurentides—Labelle for his question. Earlier this week, I invited businesses and community organizations to apply for funding under the 2016 enabling accessibility fund, which will receive an additional $4 million thanks to bu

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, ensuring greater accessibility and opportunities for Canadians with disabilities in their communities and workplaces is a priority for our government. An increased access to print materials is a path to inclusion. Earlier this week I was proud to announce $2 million

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, we are working very hard for a-whole-government approach, too, as we go into the world and restore Canada's reputation internationally to ensure that countries around the world will also implement the Marrakesh Treaty. We have opportunities later this month and lat