Oh, it's a pleasure. We're all a good group here working together to improve the quality of care for veterans. I think for all that's our goal. I appreciate our witnesses being here today for our meeting to see how we can move that agenda forward as soon as possible.
Mr. Shaw alluded to it, and I'm very familiar with the ActNow BC program, as I come from British Columbia and represent the area of Kelowna--Lake Country, which has demographics of the highest senior population in Canada, according to the CMA.
Looking at it from a veteran's perspective, we talk about improving quality of care--the old ounce of prevention, pound of cure. There's reference to some reports of quantifying, and I know that it's very difficult. I spent nine years in local government, and coming to the federal government...we don't do long-term planning. In local government there's usually a 20-year plan, and in federal government, as you alluded to, you don't look at the long-term perspective.
One of the challenges is the partisan nature, and it doesn't matter which party is in government. I think it's always a realistic perspective of provincial and federal politics. How do you see that being overcome? Do you have some quantifiable studies where you can actually show the figures? We know from a common sense and logical perspective that it is, but have you been able to do any studies over a time period of 10 to 20 years to actually quantify that research information?