Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, thank you, the committee staff, and all those who made that committee trip to Vimy possible. It was well arranged. While Alexandre couldn't go, I know young Mark stood in his place and did a very capable job. I'm sure all would agree, and it was a pleasure to travel with my colleagues.
To the business of today, obviously we're all aware that before the Vimy 90th, the Prime Minister made an announcement about the bill of rights. Let's call it the Prime Minister's bill of rights for veterans, for the moment, to distinguish it from the one that is under study by this committee. I understand that it's already been posted on the website. So as a committee, we have a simple choice between two options.
So the first option is that it's a fait accompli, and we should simply move on to other important business of the committee. Personally I think it's the Prime Minister's prerogative. He can do what he wants, and it's up to the opposition to agree or disagree, in the House and elsewhere, regarding that bill of rights.
On the other extreme, the committee could decide that we have a draft version, which we're working on. We could attempt to reconcile this with the version on the government's website. We could try to understand what the similarities and differences are, and possibly make recommendations or criticisms, if necessary, of the government's version.
I don't know if there's an in-between. So either we drop it or continue with ours, but with a view to comparing it to the government's version and make that reconciliation.
Regarding the version on the government's website, we still don't know what the legal rights of veterans are with respect to a bill of bights. I don't recall this question being dealt with in the announcement.
So should we continue with this? That's a question we still want to pursue.