Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you all for being here.
Thank you for joining us, Minister.
I would like to continue in the same vein as my colleague Mr. Miao. A big thank you for investing $4 million in the Juno Beach Centre. We were there together. I put a lot of effort into this file because I believed in it. This investment of $4 million has made it possible to move forward on this project. It was also a good opportunity for all parties to work together. The veterans benefit from this, and we are all here for them.
I do have some questions for you, however. I cannot just say nice things.
There was a $1-billion surplus in 2023, to be precise, $921,556,000. We all had trouble understanding that. How is it possible that such an astronomical amount was not spent?
For my part, if I had a billion dollars—I will repeat some things I have asked for in the past—I would hire more francophone review board members. This goes without saying in order to once again reduce the gap between francophones and anglophones or even eliminate it once and for all. It is a question of equity. I would recruit employees for permanent positions. A permanent position is clearly much more appealing than a temporary position or a contract. Saying that a given position will no longer be needed in a year or two is not realistic. In fact, the last 10 to 15 years have shown us that the workload is increasing, not decreasing. I was pleased to hear you talk about a number of veterans waiting. According to my information, there are 8,000 veterans waiting.
I would also hire more case managers to lighten their duties—which are not easy—and their heavy workload. In the past year, we learned that an incredibly high number of veterans were receiving services from a case manager.
I would like to ask you what happened to that billion dollars. Do you intend to reinvest it in the 2023‑2024 budget for Veterans Affairs?