The Veterans Ombudsman has published a number of really quite thoughtful and well-researched papers over the past year about the problems in the new Veterans Charter. Recently, Mr. Parent came out with his proposal, which I suspect didn't come out by accident, saying, as Ray brought up a few minutes ago, we file our income taxes, you can apply for CPP, you can apply for student loans, and you can apply for a whole bunch of things. You can do it on the computer. Revenue Canada, at least the ones I deal with, are not particularly nice people if you fool around. They will come and audit you. If you file your taxes today, electronically, chances are you will probably get your refund or be told to pay more in three weeks' time.
When you can do it with something as fundamental as income tax, why shouldn't we be able to do it with something like applying for veterans benefits, as opposed to going through this bureaucratic system that they've set up? It's been developed over generations. It's not something that's come to us by accident. It's been built and built and built. I don't know how many people down in P.E.I. handle this paperwork but there must be a legion of them. It is a very complicated, fact-based process, that is difficult to do. We've heard complaints, and routinely hear complaints, of learned medical specialists' input on a veteran's application being turned down by a nurse. People are asking how that can happen. It's very simple, because the nurse is in the system and she has to look at the medical advice and see if it relates to the individual being on duty, so not necessarily criticizing the medical advice but its relationship to the individual being on duty.
I think we can do better. Ray called the Veterans Ombudsman's article a bombshell. I think it's more than that. If we could bring that about maybe we could get a return of the veteran's application in three weeks like most of us will get a return on our income tax.