Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Minister, in your opening remarks you referred to your expanding partnership with Service Canada. That's what I want to ask you about first. If this is a partnership, then I would think Service Canada would be keeping you apprised of their plans in the next few years.
Mr. Minister, you may not be aware, but the majority on this committee didn't want to hear from the Auditor General.
My question starts with something your department told the Auditor General. At recommendation 4.53, in response to the recommendation, your department said to the Auditor General that, “Processes and standards are in place to give all”—and I emphasize the word “all”—“case-managed veterans more access to their case manager.”
As you know, I'm from Prince Edward Island. When all of your changes are put in place, all we're going to have is Service Canada, because you're going to close the district office and we'll have no case managers. Every time I raise this, I hear from you in question period or from your press attaché, through some fairly sharp tweets, that the service that's going to be provided by Service Canada is more than an adequate replacement for the loss of case managers on Prince Edward Island and the closure of the district office.
I have here a secret document from the strategic services branch, an integrated operational plan, which indicates that between April 1, 2012, and April 1, 2015, Service Canada will reduce its workforce on Prince Edward Island by 113 to 61. So there's going to be a 46% cut at Service Canada. Because of your expanding partnership, I expect you're probably already aware of that.
Mr. Minister, considering what you've told the Attorney General—