Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Minister, to you and your staff for coming today.
I have just a couple of questions for you.
As you know, sir, last September an assurance was made by the Prime Minister regarding our allied veterans. The deputy minister was kind enough to supply us with information. In the notes we have, there were approximately 25,000 allied veterans with 10 years' post-war residency as of March 31, 2008, which means, according to the promise made by the Prime Minister, that this number of people would qualify for a war veterans allowance.
As you know, sir, that was taken away from them in 1995 under program review. That number of 25,000 obviously would shrink because of the aging process. A number of them would pass on.
I'm just wondering, sir, when these veterans and their families can expect to see, through the government, the war veterans allowance reinstated.