There are now 55.
In terms of the ombudsman, I don't know Mr. Stogran personally. There's always the problem in any organization that one individual may see himself as perhaps independent, as he does, but the functioning of the office severely hampers any independence he can have. His administrative control, his contract hiring, that's all done through Veterans Affairs. Even his web-based administration is all done through Veterans Affairs. My ATIP has to go through Veterans Affairs for that office. So I think those factors have to be considered.
The other one that has to be considered is that when he accepted that office, there were already people who were put in place by Veterans Affairs. These may not be bad people, but, for instance, to give you an idea of how they thought.... The ombudsman's office was already established. We're talking January 2007, a week before the ombudsman was appointed. I called up the ombudsman's office and asked them, “What's the status of the office? I might be doing an article, I'm not sure, but could you please tell me what's going on?” Well, that call was made, but an e-mail was generated at 9:49 in the morning and it was sent to the assistant deputy minister, as well as the media relations officer in Veterans Affairs. Let's get this right: I called the ombudsman's office, and they communicated with at least six other senior managers in Veterans Affairs at 9:49, to say, “Just wanted to give you a call, give you a heads-up that Sean Bruyea contacted Louise Wallis yesterday re the ombudsman.”
Within 12 hours, more than 12 senior managers were notified, including both assistant deputy ministers and the deputy minister, that I had contacted the ombudsman's office. This was obviously information that Louise Wallis passed on to the department.
So we have to ask.... Someone who has been placed there by Veterans Affairs may have all the good intentions in the world, but they're culturally tied to Veterans Affairs and not culturally tied to the idea of independent oversight.