Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his question. Unfortunately, under the test of independence that I would certainly apply, there does not seem to be the independence we would like to see that an independent inspector general would provide for the Canadian Armed Forces.
One of the reasons for the independence requirement as I mentioned during my remarks is that in one recent case a military person was actually intimidated by the judge advocate general's office.
We need the independence to make sure that the office will not interfere with the military structure whatsoever and that it will act as an ombudsman for people in the military structure, either family members in the military, the military personnel themselves or civilian members of the Canadian Armed Forces who are involved with the military.
That is what we mean by independence. There would be no connection whatsoever and they would have investigative power to investigate complaints. It would be similar to a provincial ombudsman role.
There is evidence around the world that an independent inspector general is very effective. The United States armed services has an inspector general. Millions of dollars in fraudulent expenditures, et cetera have been uncovered in the armed forces internally. People who have been intimidated by the chain of command or by other forces in the armed forces structure itself have been helped.
Independence is very important. The government's reaction to this does not meet the test of independence. Therefore I would suggest that we would be putting forward amendments that will see a true independent inspector general in the new military justice system.