Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely. I think it should be available. We'll do that for you, sir. The other question you raised was with respect to the report of the ombudsman. What I can tell you, Mr. Stoffer, without having it in front of me to go through the many recommendations here, is that the report has been shared with Veterans Affairs Canada.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Good morning everyone. It’s a pleasure to be here today. I'm delighted to be here again. As you may recall, my colleague, Charlotte Stewart, and I were last before the committee on September 29, at which time we provided a bit of a departmental overview.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's a very good question. Under the new Veterans Charter, $500 is made available for financial counselling to members as they retire or transition. It was recognized that to put money in the hands of individuals without that would put them more at risk. Those services are available through a payment that the new Veterans Charter provides.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, they will. That has been calculated into the formula for payment. There will be an interest payment based on a government standard rate for this type of activity. If you took your lump sum in annual payments over 20 years, there would be actually more money paid out because of that interest factor.

Veterans Affairs committee  I believe--

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm going to guess it's around 24 members and 100 staff. The members are Governor in Council appointments.

Veterans Affairs committee  That is one I'm certainly unable to respond to.

Veterans Affairs committee  We could certainly commit to making that available to the committee.

Veterans Affairs committee  Certainly none I am privy to. Again, the chairman of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board would be the better one to speak to issues about the board itself. As you know, it's been set up as of this past April as an independent entity under the Financial Administration Act, reporting to Parliament and to the minister.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for that question, Mr. Lizon. Absolutely. The Canada Remembers program and the Department of Veterans Affairs are very well aware of the importance of engaging Canadian youth in commemorative activities. Obviously our youth are the future, and we need to reach out to them.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much for your questions, madam. There were several. I will do my best to answer them. I believe the first question was around our deficit reduction action plan response. The only thing I can say right now is that as you are well aware, all government departments have been asked to put forth proposals with respect to these plans.

Veterans Affairs committee  Three of the most pressing issues—that's an excellent question. The department is going through major changes in terms of improvements to service delivery mechanisms, as you know. We're going through changes in our programming in terms of enhancements, as we talked about with the new Veterans Charter.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for that. I would certainly be pleased to. With the new Veterans Charter enhancements, there are a number of key elements to it that members around the committee should be aware of. The first one is that over the last few years we were getting advice and we were determining that the income support program, the earnings loss benefit, which is payable to members who are in our rehabilitation program, was not sufficient for low-income veterans.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Stoffer. With respect to the first question, I can certainly advise you as follows. As you know, over the past number of years the department has profited from numerous advisory groups and bodies. The Gerontological Advisory Council was one of them; the New Veterans Charter Advisory Group was another.