Thank you, Mr. Chair.
If I might just correct the record when it comes to St. Anne's hospital, in fact as the transfer over to the Quebec government takes place, Veterans Affairs has made every effort and every commitment to ensure that veterans receive priority access in the language of their choice, and in fact has gone to lengths to ensure that the wonderful care provided by the staff at St. Anne's hospital is recognized and that those nurses and hospital staff are brought on by the Quebec government.
The challenge that we've been facing, of course, is that there are empty beds, there aren't enough veterans to fully occupy those beds, and Quebec citizens need access to that hospital. We're not quite sure why the opposition doesn't think the Quebec government is capable of running a quality hospital. The Conservative government certainly believes the Quebec government is capable of running a quality hospital and providing exceptional care to our veterans.
Mr. Jenkins, in your testimony at the beginning, on page 1, you indicate that in fact your association agrees with the vision for transformation and the five themes that have been chosen. We are in fact now entering a period of time where we have more younger veterans than traditional veterans—the World War Two and the Korean War veterans. We're looking at providing services that will benefit these younger veterans, so their focus, obviously, is some transition to careers as they leave the military and look to civilian life. We've brought in Helmets to Hardhats, and we're looking at providing that type of career transition.
We're also recognizing post-traumatic stress disorder, making sure that we've more than doubled the number of clinics to serve those young veterans, to face the challenges that we now recognize and are more comfortable speaking about than perhaps we were 20, 30, or 50 years ago.
Additionally, we're looking at how we might be able to commemorate and honour the sacrifice of these younger veterans. I think as a nation we've done a respectable job in recognizing the sacrifice of our traditional war veterans, but perhaps there's more work we can do to recognize our younger veterans as they return.
When you go to the Legions, the membership is dwindling, and younger veterans don't feel as comfortable signing up there. They don't have the camaraderie; they don't have the social support network of a community coming together to honour their work. They don't have the social outlet to discuss the challenges they face both in war time and now as they return home.
Could you perhaps give me some insight into what more we might be able to do to commemorate the younger veterans and how we can additionally support them in our communities?
Let me also say that I truly thank you for your service, and we are listening intently. One of our members here, Mr. Chisu, is a member of your association.