Yes, Mr. Chairman.
I know that several people from the Liberal Party on this committee are fairly new in terms of this study. Anthony has been on the committee before, but he did come in partway during this. And, in addition to Mr. Wilfert, what they may not know that there was an Auditor General report done in 2007. That is in part what triggered the study we're doing right now. She has also confirmed that she will be examining defence procurement in her upcoming studies.
In addition to the Auditor General's work that she's doing in the defence department, there is a chief of review services at the Department of National Defence. They have also launched into a formal review into the care of injured Canadian Forces members and their families. This review started in January. It will include an examination of mental health services, including the situation in Gagetown. The final report is expected in the fall.
I'm just wondering if we could.... It may be a good recommendation to let that report come to light. We'd look at it, and then we may have further direction for the Auditor General at that time, or no direction. And we ourselves are studying this subject. I would certainly like us to finish our investigation before we pre-empt our study with the Auditor General.
There certainly are some problems at Gagetown. These problems are not isolated at Gagetown; these same problems, if not worse, are occurring at Base Petawawa. We should allow the process in place right now to play out.
I am not sure if any of you have been involved, as a departmental employee, while there was an Auditor General investigation going on. But we have to ask ourselves, as members of the committee who are doing the study in the best interest of the soldiers themselves, whether the upheaval of yet another study going on at the same time is in the best interest of caring for those soldiers. It will take up the time of the people who are charged with taking care of their physical and mental health.
Further to your suggestion, Mr. Chairman, that we perhaps put it as a suggestion, while in Wainwright--I see several people here who were not in Wainwright--this very issue was addressed. Unfortunately, Ms. Black was not able to be in Wainwright due to illness.
What they told us was that, yes, it's a crisis, and yes, they know there are things very wrong in Gagetown and Petawawa. Really, at the end of the day it boils down to having enough money to attract doctors away from the civilian workplace to the military workplace.
In fact, what they've done in Wainwright is to contract out medical services through a company, which I believe they call Calian. They were able to get the number of doctors needed to care for the people in Wainwright and Edmonton through something very innovative. They have a premier in their province who is very supportive of the military. He worked with the universities, and he was able to negotiate an accreditation program with a university in South Africa. Because the university's medical graduates from South Africa could start practising in Canada right away, they were able to get those doctors. That may be part of the solution to the overall shortage of doctors and specialists in the military.
In Ontario, we have a premier who caps the cost of health by limiting the number of doctors. That also is contributing to the shortage of doctors available to the military.
They also mentioned at Wainwright that they have a casualty repatriation manual. We don't have that with us today, but it is in place. It is a matter, again, of having the dollars to follow through with it.
Lastly, based on what we heard in Wainwright, I would even recommend that we perhaps hear as witnesses representatives from Calian before we go any further with our instructions to the Auditor General.
Thank you.