I think my colleague, the ombudsman, has pointed one out, and I did so also, by inference. I think long-term care is something that is not built into the new Veterans Charter.
My colleague has also identified another one that is not built in. It is that the funeral and burial benefits that need to be improved substantially and also need to be made available to the new modern veteran. That is something that has not been done in the context of the recommendations.
The funeral and burial benefits, especially, are of large concern, because I think what happened is that it did not come true as a recommendation. At that time, there were basically two funnels going up. One was dealing with providing services and one was dealing with commemoration. These funnels have now been brought together in the department, but at the time the recommendations came forward, there was still this disparity.
If you will allow me to talk about philosophy, we were talking about earnings loss benefit. We were discussing what salary level we are talking about. The reality is that in the philosophy between the Pension Act and the new Veterans Charter we basically went a very long way to changing a philosophy, which was that whatever happened to you, what rank you were didn't really make any difference. Your monthly disability pension would be the same whether you were a private, a colonel, or a general. We have respected that philosophy in the disability award, the same way that SISIP respects that philosophy in accidental dismemberment.
You will be talking to Bruce Henwood in the coming days. He is the champion who in 2003 resolved the fact that accidental dismemberment was provided for only at a certain level, for colonels and generals. He brought it forward for the same level at all rank levels.
But when we look at the disability awards and the earnings loss benefit, because we've espoused the SISIP approach to providing earnings loss, we capped it at rank levels. So keep that in mind when you're talking about how we can improve these benefits that are included in the new Veterans Charter.