Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Minister, I want to thank you for being here. I hope that this is the first of many such occasions when the committee has a chance to interchange with you, either formally or informally, and that we work together towards achieving the stated goal of service to our veterans.
I want to congratulate you on your appointment. I know that you have a personal commitment to the service of veterans, and I wish you well in that position.
I congratulate you on your start. I think you have the responsibility for implementation of the charter, which has been a six-year process of work by the staff at your department, in consultation with all the associations and organizations committed to veterans.
We've heard from the Royal Canadian Legion this week. We were very pleased with the consultative process that led us here.
Now is the implementation phase. Many ministers worked through that process, including the late Ron Duhamel, who would have been the minister when this process started. He was a great member of this House.
I know you take the job of implementation very seriously, and I congratulate you on the first step, which is that the retroactive awarding of benefits is now available to Canadian veterans who were lost overseas between the time of the royal proclamation and the implementation. I think that was a very good move by yourself and your colleagues, and I congratulate you for it.
There are many questions I would have for you in this short period of time. I'd like to talk to you about the flag at half-mast. I'd like to talk to you about Agent Orange and rolling out the money as quickly as possible. I'd like to talk to you about November 11, and the question of whether it should be a national holiday or not. About these, and the bill of rights and the ombudsman, I am sure my colleagues and the colleagues opposite will raise many points.
One of the more important challenges I would like to raise with you, Minister, is the question of the famous CPP clawback to pensioners, both RCMP and military. There's a very fuzzy understanding of that, and there has been some maybe misleading information given to veterans about how it would apply, if we could do it.
The House will be dealing with the private member's bill. It will probably be my duty to support this bill, so that it comes to committee and everybody can fully understand it. I know it will have no effect for veterans or RCMP pensioners, unless there is a royal warrant from government, because it would mean new spending.
However, there are some very important points as to how we should accept the basic principle of the bill being put forward. Even if it can or can't be retroactively applied to people already on pension, let the choice be given again to the people who are now contributing, so that when their retirement day comes, they would have the ability to have the Canada Pension Plan above their regular superannuation pension. We know that is the case for the RCMP and the veterans, but that would apply to anybody, I suppose, on the superannuation plan.
But the opinion or suggestion has been put out there that it's a stroke-of-the-pen possibility for government to implement such action: to retroactively end the so-called clawback for all veterans. I have a lot of pensioners in my riding, and if that is in any way possible, I can assure you I'd like to have that happen, because I'd like to have them see that money.
What I think is most important, Mr. Minister, is that there be a full understanding by each and every pensioner of what is the process, how did it happen, and what is the art of the possible in this question. I think that's a great challenge for yourself and for your officials.