Veterans Affairs committee  It's Darragh Mogan here, Mr. Gaudet. If I understand your question, it is whether the Royal Canadian Legion receives money to help veterans. The answer is no, they don't. They are an independent veterans organization and have been since 1924. What they do for Veterans Affairs, on an out-of-pocket basis only, is help us with surveys of the almost 11,000 veterans we have in long-term care.

Veterans Affairs committee  Monsieur Gaudet, I don't think.... My answer could be maybe misunderstood. The facts are they provide a service bureau for veterans and help them, as part of the dues that members pay—the 425,000 members there are. They are an advocacy group. They would not accept money from Veterans Affairs for that reason.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, Monsieur Gaudet, they are part of our commitment to service. We'll provide them with all the benefits that are available under the new veterans charter that was passed by all-party agreement in April of 2006. They're fully eligible for that. We have a responsibility, once National Defence has looked after the initial injury, to care for them when they become veterans, and to care for their families, to provide them with a job placement program, a comprehensive rehabilitation program, and case management counselling to ensure that their transition to civilian life is at least as smooth and successful as that of their war veteran forebears at the end of the Second World War and Korea.

Veterans Affairs committee  Maybe I'll just speak more slowly. In terms of the final domicile and the 2.6 years, yes, for the most part that is their final domicile. Veterans Affairs Canada does not provide travel grants for individuals to travel to facilities--for instance, to Deer Lodge. That's something we could certainly look at, but we don't do that now.

Veterans Affairs committee  The question is probably more properly directed to the minister, because it is more of a political question. I can say that the department and the Gerontological Advisory Council are seized with the same urgency that's behind this question, and we would like to be in a position—I think our minister has said this fall—to bring some proposals forward.

Veterans Affairs committee  I would see a really positive advantage to having the ombudsman involved, both pre- and post-change. So I would have to answer, yes, it would be another voice advocating for those veterans who might not feel they're as well supported as they could be--and that's perfectly fine.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll try to respond briefly to that. We have found that if you give veterans a choice, they'll choose to be as close to home as possible. That to some extent will explain the vacancy rate in the 14 larger contract facilities, because they're located in communities where about 50% of the veterans live.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll try, with my colleague Mr. Miller, to answer the questions, but there were a number of them there. I just want to make sure I get to all of them. You asked about...[Technical difficulty--Editor]

Veterans Affairs committee  You've effectively summarized the nub of the problem that the veterans health services review is attempting to address. If complex eligibility rules for one program affect three different program areas and you integrate them into one veterans integrated service like the Gerontological Advisory Council recommends, then one could argue that you have three times the challenges.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's a very good question. The programs do intersect. The long-term care program does intersect with the VIP program. If we simplify the rules in one, it would be quite unfair not to do it for the other, because they are in effect meant to run as a continuum. One of the reasons they can't run as a continuum is that there's this gap in the middle between home and long-term care, and that's assisted living.

Veterans Affairs committee  I understand, Monsieur Perron, your question very well. From the time of the passage of the new veterans charter in April 2006, our commitment to care for and support younger veterans became more manifest. It is a top priority, between the Department of National Defence and ourselves, to ensure that individuals who are suffering from service-related disabilities, especially coming out of combat zones, but even otherwise, are cared for as a first-rate priority using community facilities and using any of the other capacity that we have developed with National Defence, such as the network of mental health clinics through our OSISS clinics and national defence OTSSC clinics.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think it's fair to represent the work of the health services review, done in response to the report of the Gerontological Advisory Council, as aiming to reduce to as few as we can the barriers to good health care that come from complex eligibility rules, apart from administrative costs.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for your questions. I can't name the 14 hospitals at this time; I don't exactly remember them. I can send you the list after the committee meeting.

Veterans Affairs committee  We have agreements with some provinces, but not all. In some cases, agreement is...[Technical difficulty--Editor]. Where we do have agreements with provinces, these focus primarily on the management of these long-term care contracts.

Veterans Affairs committee  Okay. Is this better? In regard to agreements with provinces, there are some agreements with provinces but they are only used to normalize the relationship between the provinces and the federal government for the management of these contract beds. For instance, we have them in Ontario and in Manitoba.