Good morning, sir. It's always a pleasure to see you. I appreciate you coming on such short notice.
As a new government we've increased the spending for new veterans by $523 million, and we've added 12,200 veterans and widows to the new VIP program. This committee is examining ways that we can increase that, and until this committee reports, there is not going to be very much forward movement.
I'm thinking in terms of your particular association. The previous government cut travel rates and treatment benefits. I hear a lot of negativity from veterans in my own area about how that's impacted them. I'd like you to comment a bit, if you would, on how that has impacted members of the peacekeepers, if it has in fact impacted them.
They cut $59 million from veterans in 1995 and another $10.7 million from veterans in 1998. We all recognize that those had some very serious impacts. What we're trying to do now is to increase the number of veterans and their widows who qualify for VIP programs and improve the health care system.
One question I'll ask is if you could personally change one aspect of the system as it is now, what would that be?