Mr. Chairman, as I indicated earlier, we are going through reforms to our health care system. We have put a number of operational centres in place to deal with trauma and stress and the ailments of people who served during the gulf war.
The ombudsman recently issued a report about PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. He made a number of recommendations which have been accepted by the forces and are in the process of being implemented. There are a multitude of ways in which we are improving health care services. We have established a centre for the injured and their families jointly with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The question of depleted uranium has seen considerable study. The difficulty is that the medical or scientific evidence has not indicated that any of our people have been adversely affected by it. Tests have been provided by the Department of National Defence. We have paid for tests to be done by independent parties. The relationship between service in the gulf or any other venue and depleted uranium is yet to be established but it still causes us considerable concern. We will continue to examine and study it. We will keep an open mind about it as we do for other ailments our people have.
Our people have experienced many different physical and psychological ailments and combinations of illnesses. The bottom line is that we want to look after these people. We want to do our best. It may be difficult in terms of scientific evidence to prove whether the ailments are related to depleted uranium, toxic substances or whatever, but if our people are sick we want to look after them. That is what we are endeavouring to do with these various changes and reforms.