Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your candour.
I have been listening carefully, and it seems to me, in looking at your brief and listening to what you say, that certainly a number of things disturb me about the attitude towards veterans. In some ways, they've become a political prop: we love our veterans on November 11. I say that because of the reference to safeguarding the public purse and some of the language in regard to the benefit of the doubt and the fact that veterans are not being given that benefit.
There is the treatment of widows, which you've talked about. I believe the gold-digger clause is still in place, which is, quite simply, disgraceful. It undercuts the right of a veteran to continue his or her life with someone who will make that life have quality.
There is the fact that veterans have to go to court, at their own expense, to get justice.
Also, there is the fact that $2 billion won't benefit the young men and women coming back from Afghanistan. It seems that this is quite deliberate.
You talked about the culture of the department and the fact that there was a time when it didn't matter, that they would do whatever it took to support the veterans. What has happened? What happened to Canada? What happened to Veterans Affairs? Why did that culture become so alienating and so destructive?