Veterans Affairs committee  That's a hard question to ask someone in finance. I'd say that rightly belongs in the service delivery area, and Michel Doiron would be responsible for service delivery for veterans. I think you're also having our deputy minister here, and he could speak to that more fully than

Veterans Affairs committee  With the disability awards, I'd say that we have a larger number of people coming forward. We also had, however, with such a large number of applications coming forward.... You say we see “such an increase”. The increase is partly due to the fact that we have hired more staff and

Veterans Affairs committee  The $3.8 million that's listed in the statutory appropriations [Technical difficulty--Editor].

Veterans Affairs committee  I believe there have already been somewhere slightly in excess of 150 hired this year, and hiring is ongoing as we speak. When the other departmental officials show up on Thursday, they may say it's 160 and you will wonder whether I misspoke. However, hiring is ongoing and they'r

Veterans Affairs committee  There is an agreement with the Province of Quebec to transfer Ste. Anne's to the province. As you noted we still have veterans at Ste. Anne's Hospital, and we still are not only obligated to care for the veterans but are seriously concerned about the care they will receive. Hence

Veterans Affairs committee  Let me put it this way. Yes, we do expect a decline of 11,000 war service veterans. In order to make somewhat of a separation, we refer to them sometimes as our traditional war service veterans and then talk about our new or more modern-day veterans. There is an age distinction b

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm happy to see what we can do for you.

Veterans Affairs committee  What your document was talking about was that another 100 employees were to be hired in order to more quickly process requests for benefits and services. We were seeing a larger influx of applications for disability benefits, and we were unable to deal with those disability benef

Veterans Affairs committee  You're speaking from the...?

Veterans Affairs committee  On Thursday, you will receive large comments and explanations on many of the programs.

Veterans Affairs committee  But if I can, we do have a disability award. We have an earnings loss benefit, because if an individual is injured and they're unable to work, then they are losing income. When you asked about programs on top of programs, a new program, which was introduced in May in supplement

Veterans Affairs committee  Okay, yes. If I may, Mr. Chair, the 80%, about $720 million, relates to health care rehabilitation and re-establishment services. Now, you are aware that we have Ste. Anne's Hospital as well, so it's long-term care and medical expenses, and so on, that are provided for within tha

Veterans Affairs committee  Non-health-care related programs. When they're talking in the previous paragraph, they're saying “assigned to these programs”, which would be health care, vocational, rehabilitation, and so on. We would have commemoration programs. We would also have the department's office and t

Veterans Affairs committee  Additional...?

Veterans Affairs committee  I would preface my remarks by saying that I know you're going to be spoken to by the assistant deputy ministers of service delivery and of policy on Thursday. They will expand on this generously, I'm sure. However, if I can say it this way, we did receive additional funding in s