Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll officially thank you, not only for your presentation earlier today but for that of Ms. Tining, and I offer best wishes on your time in the department, which I hope will be lengthy and fruitful.
Before I go to my question, I'll ask for a quick clarification. If I heard correctly, the minister mentioned that this government had picked April 1 as the implementation date for the Veterans Charter. In fact, it was under the previous government's watch, and I believe the information is well established that April 1, 2006, was always the date. That date had been determined in the previous year as the implementation date. That's just to correct the record, if indeed I heard the minister say that.
On the question of the bill of rights, you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're looking forward to this committee's reporting on the ombudsman. We'll be looking forward to a thorough but expeditious consultation by the department to implement--first of all, to get a bill in place so there won't be a long delay in the implementation of an ombudsman. Do you see the business of studying a bill of rights as in any way delaying work on an ombudsman? In my mind, yes, you can find a relationship, but they are still mutually independent in terms of initiative. In your mind, is there any reason to delay the work towards an ombudsman because work on a bill of rights is still going on?