Thank you.
As the deputy minister mentioned, the primary responsibility for the veteran's daily care belongs to his attending physician. Our role is to support the process and ensure that appropriate care is available. We try to be stakeholders, but the physician is responsible for the veteran's primary care. When the doctor prescribes medications, we reimburse them and we ensure that they are appropriate. We don't prescribe medication and we don't make diagnoses. That is the role of medical committees in Canada, in the provinces. It is certain that everything we do derives from the empathy, compassion and respect due to our veterans, whether they are grappling with mental health issues or other ones.
There is a lot of talk about post-traumatic stress but there are a lot of other mental health issues. A lot of veterans live in suffering and pain. Those are the two dominant elements. Following the recommendations of the Auditor General and other suggestions, we are modernizing our programs so as to ensure that the care will be given in a timely manner, whether veterans resort to an arbitration process or not.
Dr. Courchesne intervenes a great deal in communities, in the provinces, and with the medical community to ensure that veterans have access to a physician. We know that in certain provinces, it is not always easy to find one. Consequently, we ensure that the veterans are under a physician's care.