Finance committee  That's going to depend on whether or not the federal government already plays a role in decision-making. Yes, there is a role in infrastructure funding, but it's my understanding that it's municipal-provincial-federal. In Toronto, for example, there is a body that is set up, much

Finance committee  We're sitting in front of you not asking for money. In fact, we're not even going to recommend that you spend any more money. This is a social organization, and we're going to ask that you focus on achieving social goals through measures that you already have at your disposal: pr

Finance committee  These are examples of existing regimes and fiscal tools that are in use. By explaining these, we're merely pointing out that it can be done. We put this within the context of the legislation being developed here in Ontario. There is proposed legislation on a built environment sta

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  We do have the same thing in Ontario. What we're talking about, though, are the retrofits. With the new built environment standard in Ontario, this will apply to all work on a go-forward basis as well as to major renovations. This is also the case in some other jurisdictions wher

Finance committee  They're small businesses, family-owned businesses. They want to do the right thing, a good social thing, a public good as well as an economic good. But how? Do they cut expenses elsewhere? Do they lay people off?

Finance committee  The deduction would apply to the removal of architectural or transportation barriers, adaptations to a building, or an information system. The credit would be for smaller items, not necessarily major retrofits to the organization but perhaps the production of accessible formats.

Finance committee  We do, increasingly. The March of Dimes started out as a service organization for people with physical disabilities. That was fairly clear-cut. Some of those disabilities would have been temporary, and some acquired—brain injuries, automobile accidents, etc.—but increasingly in

Finance committee  Thank you for this opportunity to share our recommendations.

Finance committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and honourable members. My name is Steven Christianson and I run government relations and advocacy for the March of Dimes. With me today are my colleagues Janet MacMaster and Dr. Robert Meynell. I'll try to be as quick as I can. I'll briefly describe wh