I think before I answer I'd like to go back to the committee, if I may.
Remember that I went through the army, which is a dictatorship. Those with the highest rank call the shots. When in doubt, you obey the last order.
I appreciate your comments. You're absolutely right. We live in a democracy, and thank God for this Parliament and so forth.
I think they should be split, Mrs. Hinton. I think there'd be a conflict of interest.
There is now a DND ombudsman who is mission specific to the serving member. If that individual has a problem, I would like to think he or she would continue to address the problem, even though the individual has left the service, even though the individual, for whatever reason—you could paint a scenario—may be picked up by the veterans ombudsman, and there would hopefully be a dialogue. If the individual is out of the service, I would like to think the DND ombudsman is not going to drop the issue. It has to move forward.
In the case of the veterans ombudsman, I would think the veterans ombudsman would be concerned with some of the systemic issues. There are gaps in the new Veterans Charter in regard to some of the benefits. There are a number of them. I can't articulate them to you, but I know they're there.
The veterans associations will be going forward on lump sums, long-term care, and that kind of thing. It's an ongoing issue. God bless them. They say to keep “pinging” them because they want to know.
I'm not saying we're an authority on this, but if we can't sort it out, the ombudsman should be able to pick that up. It would be awkward, if not a tremendous increase in workload, in my opinion, if the DND ombudsman were to take that on.