The veterans' benefits, the programs and services, are quasi-statutory. That's a complicated term that means basically once a year we have to go through the Treasury Board to get approval for our forecast. Because of the nature of the quasi-statutory, once you are eligible—and that's in the regulation and in the legislation—you get the benefit. The government budgetary process is the mechanism by which the department gets the additional money, if the forecasts are exceeded in one program or other.
Whether you have 10,000 veterans or 50,000 veterans who qualify in a given year, the money is there and the budgetary process allows the department to get that extra money. The department cannot say, sorry, we don't have enough money. The money is there.
Now what you are voting on is our best estimate of what we will need for 2012-13. Should our forecasts not materialize to exactly the same amounts, there are the supplementary estimates by which we go to get the extra money.
I want to reassure the members of the committee, and the veterans, that the budget is never, never in the way of getting the benefits to the veterans once they qualify.