Mr. Russell, it is a concern, and I'm comforted by what we're doing. It goes back to the questions on the OSI clinics, as well, in terms of the outreach and how we reach some of these rural areas. But we do have caseworkers on the ground.
I remember one of the issues.... You're always preparing, as a minister, for unexpected questions in question period. There was a question about some four-wheel-drive vehicles we bought, and maybe you could argue that they're not green because they are four-wheel-drives. But recognizing the uniqueness of some of the areas where our veterans do live, these men and women who serve them have to have vehicles to get to them. These caseworkers obviously go out of their way to get to them.
So we do have people on the ground in all of these areas. Some of them are remote. You're right that there is a disproportion--if that's the way to say it--of rural people who enlisted in World War I, World War II, and Korea. I'm not sure how the statistics play out today, but you are right, many of them are still living in these remote areas, so we are doing that. We have men and women on the ground. We do also have contracts with some of the veterans organizations that have service people on the ground as well, who deal with our clients, in addition to our caseworkers.
On top of that, one of the questions that we had in terms of the OSI was how do we reach out, but we also do teleconferencing. It is somewhat ironic that when you are setting up these OSI clinics, you could argue why is it in Fredericton, New Brunswick, versus some other smaller area, but it's recruiting the professionals to staff these that is always the problem, as you well know. That is one of the difficulties that rural Canada experiences. But we do have men and women on the ground, and we have this program support for them.
We make every effort to try to keep a lot of these veterans at home with our VIP program, with professional people who will come to their homes to provide those services to them so they can live with a relative degree of comfort. And we make every opportunity to get them into a long-term-care bed, if necessary. That is something that most veterans try to avoid. In fact the VIP program is pretty successful in keeping them home.
Again, at the end of the day, the more veterans who can stay at home because of the services that we provide on the ground, the more money the Government of Canada saves, and the veterans are much happier. But it's all about providing that service on the ground to them, and I think we're doing a pretty good job in the rural parts of Canada.
If you can identify areas in your riding.... And I know that we have corresponded on some of those problems. As a member of Parliament, you never have any difficulty writing to me or crossing the floor to talk about it.