Mr. Chair, Mr. Casey, I was not part of the advisory group. When the new Veterans Charter was first passed by Parliament, a group of us were brought in to advise the minister and senior staff from veterans associations across the country. We helped draft the regulations.
To be quite frank, at that time many of the warts that have continued to trouble the new Veterans Charter were already known and defined, and were certainly clearly understood by Veterans Affairs. However, the legislation had been passed, and that's what they were dealing with, not what they would have liked to have been dealing with.
The group that I was working with was well aware of some of the shortfalls and complications, best illustrated, probably, by the problems between the Canadian Forces insurance program, PSHCP, and Veterans Affairs pensions, which have come to light of late.
But no, I was not in that latter group that studied for three years, Mr. Casey.