Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to actually follow up because I believe that MP Blaney kind of stole my thunder there.
I'm really having trouble with the numbers with this and how it all works. As the panel has probably gathered, one of the biggest points of contention is a veteran attempting to provide for their spouse or partner and the money they attempted to provide for their spouse or partner ultimately is relinquished and does not come back to them.
I'm sorry. I just launched in because I was so inspired by MP Blaney's question. First off, I thank you all for your service and for being here. I neglected to say that right from the get-go.
This is for Mr. Crabtree or Brigadier-General Tattersall.
I'm going to use an example because I'm having a lot of trouble visualizing this. For me, it's helpful if we use tangible numbers.
Let's say a veteran has a $4,000 pension monthly—a big pension. They can give 20%, 30% or 50% or something along those lines and they decide to give 50%. That means that they're putting away $2,000, as I understand it, every single month. That $2,000 is there to compensate in the event that the veteran passes prior to their surviving spouse. Is everybody with me so far?
After four years, roughly $96,000, by my math, has been put aside at $2,000 per month over four years. If I understand this correctly, hypothetically, if the spouse or common-law spouse passes away at the four-year mark, is that $96,000 never to be seen again?