Knowing that this committee was coming, during my week off I made a stop at three Legions in British Columbia. I wanted to test the waters. I talked to a total of 18 vets. I just went around to introduce myself as a member of the veterans affairs committee.
Of those 18 vets—and this is not a concocted good-news story; this is what happened—11 said they have had little or no contact, in any area, with Veterans Affairs because everything was going fine. Their pension cheques were coming and their health issues were not serious. There were five who had some favourable comments about how Veterans Affairs has helped them with health issues that had come on later in their lives. As well, one had just completed an appeals process and had won the appeal. Then there was one who was still involved in the appeal. He didn't know the outcome, but he didn't think it was going to be very good.
Appropriately, I guess, the one chap who has had problems with the appeal board was very outspoken in his opinions, and that was to be expected. However, there's always some good when you talk to people.
Mr. Kokkonen, I want to get back to you for a minute.
You are talking about the energy that you saw—