Thank you, Chair.
I'll try to avoid repeating any previous arguments, but I propose to deal with Colonel Gleeson's submission.
It's a bit ironic that the proposition before us either requires a royal recommendation, because presumably it has some financial implications, or, on the other hand, we're being told it might not do anything. So it's either one or the other.
If it's as simple as what Mr. Hawn is suggesting, that it would need to be an accounting officer, well, maybe the cabinet has the power to appoint the CDS an accounting officer for the purposes of grievances and give him a budget to deal with it. It could be as simple as that; I don't know. What I do know is that it's taken eight years and a lot of members of our Canadian Forces being denied the fruits of their successful grievance to get us to the point where this is even debatable.
This may well be a tool that would force the government either to give a royal recommendation, if that's what is needed to solve the problem, or something to solve the problem itself. If it's redundant, which is suggested by Colonel Gleeson, and maybe the power is already there, then what's the problem?
By bringing the attention of the legislature to this issue, that this is an important matter that this committee brings to the House, if the House decides to pass it, it becomes a legislative provision that gives the CDS the power to decide it. So the decision is not being made by some lawyers in the Department of Justice, but it's being made by the CDS. I think we should pass that and let the chips fall where they may, and hope that somewhere in this brilliant government we have, somebody can figure out how to make sure that a guy who is a soldier who wins his grievance might actually get the cash in his hand.
It works in the labour movement. You settle your arbitration, you get a ruling, and you're required to pay up. Well, why can't it work for our soldiers in uniform? They don't have a union—we understand that—but they have a process that's supposed to be able to help them resolve matters. We're talking about matters that are within the grievance process. We're not talking about all sorts of other matters, but we're talking about financial compensation that's due as a result of a successful grievance. Well, let's pass this amendment and let the government figure out a way to ensure that people get what they're entitled to.