Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome to Mr. Sharkey and Mr. Marchand. It is lovely to see you again. I, for one, appreciate the fact that you've been here three times. You've kept us very well updated, and I think your news today is excellent news.
I recall the last time we spoke you had an 8,000-case backlog, so kudos to you. That's wonderful, and it's great news for veterans. We'll start off on that note.
The second thing I'd like to mention is that this is an unusual circumstance today, because generally speaking, we have the written presentation of what the presenters are going to say. I know I'm not alone at these tables with the very speedy writing here. We were trying to get down all the information because we had nothing to go back to. That's just an aside.
You've had some very serious changes and some great progress. I personally appreciate the hard work that your committee is doing.
Perhaps I could follow up on a question that was asked by Mr. Perron--I believe it was Mr. Perron. You said you were originally appointed as the chair. I understand the circumstances under which that happened, but could you tell me how long you've actually been the chair?