Good day, colonel.
In your opening remarks, referring to the ombudsman, you said that this man or woman or position must report to the minister. If I were to define the responsibilities of the ombudsman for Ontario or any other province, including Quebec, I do not see how the position could report to the minister, since all ombudsmen in Canada answer not directly to a minister but to their legislative assemblies. Under his mandate, the ombudsman protects people and also corrects errors or injustices committed at their expense, both individually and collectively. Although the term is not accepted here in Ottawa by the government, an ombudsman is a watchdog. How can he be impartial and bite the hand that feeds him? He needs to report to a committee and not to the minister of Veterans Affairs.