Thank you, Madam Chair.
I too would like to thank our presenters here this morning and apologize for missing your presentations. I will definitely be checking Hansard, as will my colleague, to make sure that I don't miss anything.
I just want to say this to Ms. Smith. I certainly hear your voice and feel your pain. I lost a very dear and close friend who was a member of the police force and was not getting the attention that he needed. He was dealing with undercover units in a very nasty world, and there needs to be something there.
I also have a husband and a son who are emergency responders in the fire service. I understand some of the tension that families go through and some of the assistance they need, as well, to deal with the issues that our loved ones deal with as a matter of routine, almost.
So I'm certainly glad and thankful that you were able to come here and give your testimony today.
I want to ask a couple of questions to the Department of Veterans Affairs, to Ms. Bax and Ms. Flett, please.
I understand you are part of the federal health care partnership movement, and I think that's great. I want to hear a bit more about it, and I hope I'm not asking for things to be repeated that I missed.
I think the face of Veterans Affairs is changing greatly and changing rapidly. I am speaking of the demographics and what we had traditionally been accustomed to with veterans, and now, with today's world, what we are faced with with the veterans in the demographic area.
I'd like you to address some of the challenges that presents, if you could, please. Are we looking at different shortages, different types of shortages for specific specialties, or are things remaining much the same?