I'll try to be brief so that you can get another question in, Mr. Shipley.
I'll do 1 and 7, and then Tom is going to talk about 12.
The robust investigative powers are crucial to the ombudsman's office. Expanding upon that, this would give them the powers to call up files or to enter into the files of the department. They could compel the department or those involved to provide testimony as to the situation being investigated.
The investigative powers would also be, in large part, enhanced by the training of the investigators, so we want to make sure that we have some good quality staff on board.
In the models that we see in Europe, in Germany, as well as what we see even in Canada, at home, with the CBC ombudsman, it's the powers of investigation that make the ombudsman. If they cannot bring the department to the table, if they can't get the department to respond within x number of days, then basically their investigation runs up against a brick wall. So we have to make sure they have more robust powers in order to carry out that investigation, and that way we get better results, more timely results, and more efficient results.
As far as 7 goes, with the whistle-blower act, I'm not sure where that would lie either. Would this be an addition to the whistle-blower act? Would we put in an amendment for veterans? Traditionally, I think the whistle-blower act is looking at public employees or federal service employees. I don't think we're being original here, but hopefully we can emphasize that veterans are a unique class. They are totally dependent. They have a fiduciary trust with the government because they depend on the Department of Veterans Affairs for basically everything if they are seriously disabled.
We have to protect them to make sure that if they're going to help improve the system by coming forward then they also have robust powers of protection, and that it's detailed, because bureaucratic harassment can be extremely broad-reaching and extremely subtle. So we have to make sure that there are very well-defined protections for those veterans coming forward.