Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for joining us today.
A very large concern of mine is poverty among all Canadians, but especially among veterans, wartime and modern. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation was founded in 1946 with the sole purpose of, I think the quote is “helping Canada's veterans”.
If you go into any city or town in Ontario, certainly you'll see these small single-floor cottages with one bedroom or two bedrooms, which were built in that period for veterans of World War II. However, things have changed. Not only does such a stand-alone housing program not exist any more for modern veterans, but the CMHC and Canadian taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $1 trillion in Canadian mortgages of varying quality that are held by private financial institutions.
Under this government's watch, homelessness—not even having a roof over your head—has become an issue of great concern with respect to veterans and especially aboriginal veterans, who my staff and I see every day in my office in Thunder Bay. Food bank use by veterans has skyrocketed also.
I have a couple of questions for you today. I'll get to homelessness again, but first let me ask you a question of national and local importance. Veterans Affairs has recently announced that it will be closing the Thunder Bay office, along with other offices across Canada. I have a question, and then it's going to be a money question.
Why are veterans in my riding, my constituents, being forced to travel 10 hours by road to receive specialized face-to-face Veterans Affairs service? Keep in mind that these are wartime veterans. These are veterans who are used to doing things in a certain way and having those supports. Many of them are in their nineties and they use this face-to-face service. My question is, how much money is the Harper government actually saving by closing these offices, and the Thunder Bay office in particular?