Thank you, Brian.
We're aware of Ms. Richard's letter, her response to the minister's letter. I can't comment on the specifics, and you know I won't do that. What I can say is the issue was about the convalescent care beds at the Rideau-Perley centre and about whether veterans could have access to those beds, because they are on the civilian side of the hospital, and whether they could have access on a priority basis. The answer is, they are not part of the 250 priority access beds at the Rideau-Perley, but--and there's a big “but” here--if individuals, through a rehabilitation plan or for care of their war service-related injury, need convalescent care in the Rideau-Perley, in the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston, in Nova Scotia somewhere--wherever they need it--we can pay for that and we will.
The reason we haven't had a reserve of convalescent beds there is because it tends to isolate the location of where this care can be received, and the downside of that is probably greater than the upside. The downside is it's only available to people in certain areas where we have these reserves of beds, and for the others, they have to move and leave their families to go to them. So if you can purchase the equivalent care somewhere in the community nearby for a war-related disability, it makes more policy sense. Our experience is that four out of five veterans would rather stay closer to home than they would to move a long way away.
I think that's probably the kind of policy...but we certainly understand Ms. Richard's concern there, and I don't know that the minister ever made a commitment that those were priority access beds, but they are available. If they need it, we can purchase the care.