Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
My name is Ron Cannan. I'm the member of Parliament for Kelowna—Lake Country in beautiful British Columbia. It's in the Okanagan Valley.
Just for your information, we have an aging population. We have the highest demographic in the census of metropolitan areas of people 65 and over--it's almost 16% of the population--and a good portion of those, of course, are veterans. We all want the best for our veterans and I'm looking forward to this holistic overhaul of the veterans health services review when it's completed.
Just following up on my colleague Mr. Sweet's questioning, I'm dealing with some of my constituents who wanted the veterans independence program so they could stay in their own homes, but they are not eligible; but, as you indicated, they would be eligible to go into the long-term care program, which is costing Veterans Affairs about $340 million a year. Do you have any idea how many individuals would be eligible to go on the VIP program and not for this long-term care program, and the potential cost savings for the government?