Gentlemen, first of all, thank you very much.
Sir, it's a real pleasure to see the liberation medals from the Netherlands on you. Thank you both for your service.
On the $40,000 thing that we've been discussing with my other colleagues, I'm not sure if you're aware, but you don't need Bill C-55 to move the $40,000 amount. You don't need a legislative amendment to do that. You just need a regulatory amendment to do that. So it could be $40,000, it could be $80,000, it could be $100,000, but you don't need Bill C-55 to move that amount. So that's problem number one. And it's unfortunate that Veterans Affairs has indicated that for the $40,000, Bill C-55 has to pass, because they're two different things altogether.
The biggest problem that I have, although the bill is a small step in the right direction, is that the government should have taken a great big leap to assist, because the reality is, according to the Library of Parliament, only 20 severely injured veterans have received the permanent impaired allowance since 2006. Only 20. This bill will probably help a few hundred more, but you and I both know that there are thousands upon thousands of veterans and their families who require assistance in a variety of ways right now. So although this is a small step forward, it is a tiny step.
So I just want to ask you this question. You deal with government all the time and Department of Veterans Affairs officials. Why were they so timid in this legislation, when they could have taken a big leap forward? With all the advice they got from our committee, from veterans groups, from the Gerontological Advisory Council, their own advisory board, of all the recommendations to move the issue of veterans care forward, why do you think they were so timid, in my own opinion, and moved the bar ever so slowly forward?