Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for the opportunity to subject you to some questions, Mr. Minister.
For the record, you know I've said this to you directly, but I want to say that I've had a number of opportunities to interact with your department.
In the greater city of Hamilton we have the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry and the Argyle Highlanders. They have had a long tradition of dedicated military service over the last century in Hamilton. They continue to attract a lot of military participation, and we in fact end up having a lot of volunteers.
We've had some tough cases. Your staff has not only weighed in to deal with those cases in their department, but they have been very effective at liaising with other departments. I want to give you and the staff kudos for that. I appreciate it, and I'm glad you're there.
We had Mr. Marchand testify here last week, and he was describing some initiatives that are being taken to clear up the backlog of these thousands of cases.
Mr. Minister, are you dedicated to continue to allow him to do that, and to give him the resources to do it, so we can get this backlog cleaned up and begin to hear these cases in real time?