Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you both for coming to the committee today.
Sir, in your mandate book in paragraph 3, it says off the top: “The Ombudsman shall, on the Minister's behalf”. Then in the report here, in the part you didn't go over, but the part that would be right here, it says: “I also have the authority to investigate matters on my own initiative upon notice to the Minister.”
Then for recommendations for the veterans independent ombudsman, you say: “full ability to decide what complaint or issue to investigate and to determine how any complaint will be investigated, and when a file will be closed”.
It appears to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, that an ombudsman should be completely independent of the department. But right off the bat, your mandate says “on the Minister's behalf”. Does that not handcuff you a bit in this regard? And are you recommending to us that the veterans ombudsman not have this in the mandate—that instead it would say “The ombudsman shall”, and forget the minister altogether? Are you saying that this should be also written for the ombudsman?