Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I want to start today by thanking each and every one of you for being here and also by thanking those of you who don the uniform. I come from a family in which my father served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 25 years, and my uncle and my brother-in-law are in the OPP and in the RCMP. I know a little bit from the family side about the commitment you make to your jobs. I think everybody on the committee here wants to thank you for doing those tough jobs each and every day for Canada.
We've been having a lot of interesting meetings here in the health committee about human health resources. We've heard from experts and associations from across the country about the challenges that Canada is having in utilizing our health care resources the best we can, in recruiting, and in maintaining. I think one of the comments about this particular initiative was made by Inspector Boughen and was about “health professionals who get that”. With the competition from the private sector, I think it's a real challenge to keep those people in the field who actually do understand, to maintain those people.
I want to ask about the program you mentioned, Superintendent Tousignant. I was quite pleased with how you ended your presentation in stating that as of April 1 you are commencing a new position of director general for workplace development and wellness. It's going to be a new role for you in engaging experts in the field to move forward with--I liked the final line--“fit for duty, fit for life”.
Can you explain a little more to the committee what the mandate is of that new position?