Thank you very much for this question.
I want to emphasize the need for the department to transform itself to meet the expectations of all veterans—aging veterans as well as modern-day veterans. Over the last sixty years, it has become quite obvious that the processes that had been put in place were beginning to be quite cumbersome and that investments in modern technology had been lagging.
The overhaul of service delivery really is focusing on faster, simpler access by veterans to the benefits and services they are entitled to, and to the widest extent possible allowing them to do it online, as they do in their own personal affairs with their banking institutions. That's just the name of the game in the world we are in.
We have embarked on a transformation plan that will carry us through a number of initiatives to simplify our policies and processes, to delegate to our front-line people the authority to make decisions, to equip those who are taking care of our veterans with the tools and the delegation of authority to take the best decision in the fastest way possible, so that the benefit can be given to the veteran.
It will imply investment in technology to make sure that we can provide the veterans with access online to be able to track their file, so that when they make an application they will be able to see where it is, when they can expect a decision, and when can they expect an amount of money to be deposited in their bank account.
So there is a wide variety of initiatives in the department. It's a major transformation. As the minister has said, our employees are involved in finding ways.... They know what needs to be fixed, because they are the face of the department. They have to operate within legislation and regulation and the policies of the government and the department, but they also are a source of innovation in finding ways to simplify what have become cumbersome processes over the years.