Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, although a slight nuance is that it definitely was the leadership of the ombudsman's office that started the process. They had a tool and they brought it to the department. I want to recognize their leadership in doing that. They shared that they had something they thought was worthy that the department should consider.

Veterans Affairs committee  That could be. I couldn't speak for an individual veteran, but I know that there are many options for use. We've been thrilled that we've been able to expand My VAC Account. We hope over time that more veterans will be using it. You could see them working in tandem. They are complementary tools.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's a great suggestion, so we'll work that into our planning. We haven't developed the focus group testing questions yet for what we're trying to achieve and test. It is a great suggestion, so I'll bring it back.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm sorry, but I can't hear you.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's a great question, and a great idea, actually. We don't have online chat as part of our plan for the benefits browser at this point. That said, there are multiple different channels, YouTube and Twitter, that we are exploring. I will bring back online chat as an idea. We're looking to expand, and that's a great suggestion.

Veterans Affairs committee  Staff at the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman were the original idea-generators and creators of a tool for their staff. I can't speak in great detail because I don't work with that office, but my understanding is that it was based on questions that they mostly got from veterans and the information the staff needed to answer those veterans’ questions.

Veterans Affairs committee  Our website has approximately 200,000 pages, just to give you a sense of the scope of information. I know many of you are aware that websites have made various leaps, even in the last five to 10 years, but when the Veterans Affairs website began in the nineties, basically brochures were taken and put up on the website.

Veterans Affairs committee  I would add that I think it's about efficiencies, in terms of a veteran being able to access it and making it more efficient and reducing the hassle. It was less about resources or reducing resources; it's more about communication in this case.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much.

Veterans Affairs committee  We're always very conscious of spending taxpayers' dollars and where the value is the greatest. In the long term, I don't have a figure on what the cost savings would be because, again, it wasn't the intent of the project. There is a cost for publications and printing, so long-term savings would be in that area.

Veterans Affairs committee  I mean all of our offices. We have information kiosks at our offices, and also at the CF offices that are related to us, whether they be military resource family centres or the integrated personnel service units. We have information available at all of the different outlets, including Service Canada, which is part of our new service delivery offerings.

Veterans Affairs committee  I would agree, and we were quite excited about how well it was received. Even at the announcement at our VAC office, we had feedback from veterans saying how great this is and that they're excited to use it. A couple of emails have already come in on it, so thank you. We're very proud of the work our staff and the OVO staff have done to get us to this point.

Veterans Affairs committee  This is a key part of the red tape initiative and also the plain language initiative, which started quite some time ago. We have spent time on plain language to make the information that much more understandable, whether it has been decision letters or content on our website. This gives veterans another choice in how they communicate with Veterans Affairs and how they receive their information.

Veterans Affairs committee  For veterans who don't have the access, we have multiple channels. We can send them information as we've always done. We also have Service Canada points of service, which have increased exponentially in the last number of months. We also have trained staff in our offices who can help with questions any time the veterans have them.

Veterans Affairs committee  If you want, Janice, I can handle the first question. Mr. Stoffer, at the end you referred to veterans in areas where they don't have a CAP site or they're not on computers. We have many different options. This is not the only tool we use in communication. We're extremely proud of it, but it won't cover all our audiences.