Thank you very much.
We truly believe that Canada has the legal but also the moral obligation to look after its veterans who have run great risks in the service of our country and, all too often, by paying a high personal price. We are clearly in favour of the increased benefits or compensation included in this bill. However, as I mentioned—and I think it is worth mentioning it again—these provisions should have been studied separately in committee, out of respect for our veterans. They would have been able to say a lot more had they not been mixed in with witnesses dealing with a variety of topics, which, moreover, were dealt with very superficially. We find it quite unfortunate that the government acted in that way.
I would also like to take the opportunity to emphasize that I am still very concerned that the government still chose to continue the battle in court against our veterans, even after promising to put an end to it. We feel that this is an outright betrayal of the men and women who served this country.
With respect to clause 107, we are proposing an amendment to solve the problem facing some veterans who, year after year, must justify a permanent medical condition such as the loss of a limb. Some of those stories have been covered in the media. The amendment seeks to allow the minister or the department to ask veterans to provide information about their medical condition, but not to constantly ask for information about a condition considered permanent from a medical standpoint. This would put an end to the insults to those veterans who have to justify the loss of a leg year after year.
I hope that all members of this committee will rally behind this amendment.