The whole thing here is that the monument is important to the veterans. The delay of this is turning into a sore point.
When we see this stuff happening now, we really can't take pride in it because there were a lot of things that didn't happen when we returned from Afghanistan. It was just like, “Okay, it's over. It's all done.” With other places, there was some recognition for that. We weren't asking for a ticker tape parade kind of thing. That never happened. It was literally, “Okay, we're quietly leaving.”
Then, to rub salt into the wounds, they abandoned all the interpreters who were there as well. That really left a sore point. This monument is now being tainted and that delay is going further than that.
I did some homework before coming here. I put this out to 18,000 vets on 12 different pages, and there's a lot of anger out there with this whole thing. It shouldn't be a political thing. That's what I'm trying to get at. It should represent Canada as a nation and it's not.
When you go to other nations, you don't see this happening. I go down to the States a lot and do work with Veterans Affairs down there. They don't have those particular problems because it's a national recognition.
When you look at the Gulf War vets, they got nothing. They're ignored. We're really starting to feel the same way with this. I really hope you understand what I'm trying to say, which is that this should not be a political football. That's all I'm trying to get at.