Thanks for that, because I get a lot of flak at times. They say I'm too negative on the new Veterans Charter. I'm negative on certain aspects, the sacred obligation for one thing. But we're not talking about that.
The ELB is a positive thing. It was brought in to provide that net. It has worked, definitively. We have over 7,000 veterans on ELB now. We cannot deny that it is not effective, and I won't tell you it's not effective because it is effective.
On the second issue, I know the Legion has brought this forward. On the ELB, I have a problem with the position in the sense that—not that the 100%.... They would say that if you are on ELB you should get 100%. I don't know about that. My personal conviction is that it should stay at 75% and just go tax free because that was the intent in the beginning.
But the problem with the entire concept is that they've ignored those who are on SISIP. We can't say if you're on ELB, we're going to give you—in my scenario—a tax-free disability thing, when meanwhile, by definition, Canada's most seriously wounded veterans are on SISIP. There was no two-year expiry date that they went beyond and then a mental wound surfaced and they came back to the fold but it was too late for SISIP, and ELB reached out to provide that security net.
So if it's going to go that way...and I would recommend that it be tax free, but it has to include SISIP. It just can't be ELB and create two standards of veterans again and I'm sure create another class action suit again because of it.