I'd like to then carry on with other issues that are not necessarily part of the transformation but that impact on the shape of the transformation. The first of those, which has been a long-time irritant for all modern-day veterans, is long-term health care for modern-day veterans. I simply want to say that there is patent unfairness in the fact that one section of veterans gets preferential treatment over another section of veterans. I'll leave it at that.
The next point is the Veterans Affairs Canada personnel cuts. We sent a joint letter, with the Gulf War veterans and the NATO veterans organizations, to the Prime Minister expressing our strong concerns about the budget cuts to Veterans Affairs Canada. We cannot fathom how you can cut several hundred people from an organization that serves veterans without reducing the quality of service to the veterans.
The last one is, if I may say, the recommendations of this standing committee, coupled with the recommendations of the new Veterans Charter advisory group, which you endorsed and added to. Those need to be implemented right away. There is no question. The Veterans Affairs Canada stakeholders committee, in fact, passed three motions for immediate implementation, and this was one of the ones that was discussed.
As John has said, we are generally satisfied with the transformation process and the reasons it's happening. However, we have a concern that it's such a huge thing. And as we were discussing earlier, a wheel can come off somewhere and have disastrous effects, at least for a period of time, for many veterans.
Our recommendation is that you, as part of this legislative body, as the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, publicly monitor this transformation to make sure that the wheel doesn't come off and hurt veterans.
Thank you. We're grateful for this opportunity. That finishes our presentation.