Mr. Speaker, I looked at the list of offices and the amount of work they are doing, and the case officers and the veterans they are servicing. In Charlottetown alone, I see the number 2,138. If it is not the busiest office, it is one of the busiest offices. To close that office in Charlottetown and take it to Halifax is a real shame.
Although the minister was there a couple of weeks ago, and he hastily called a meeting with the veterans at the very last minute to reassure them, well, the figures speak for themselves.
Not only that, veterans from across the country wanting to see the minister, to look him in the eye to say that he should not be closing their services, came to this House. The minister asked for a meeting with them, and he did not show up. There were two members of Parliament, the parliamentary secretary, and his chief of staff, and they blew the veterans completely aside.
The veterans came downstairs to the Charles-Lynch theatre in order to hold a press conference. At the very last minute, the minister blew in and said, don't point your finger at me. Well, that is not the way to deal with veterans. This is not the way to deal with people we have asked to put their lives on the line.
The minister gets up and says that we are going to wash their windows, clear the snow, and cut their grass. Maybe the Prime Minister should fire that minister, let him become the minister, and the rest of us can go cut his grass, shovel his snow, and clean his windows. There is more to it than--