Veterans Affairs committee  I would say about 85% is salary, and it's because of my day cares. I have 175-space day cares. This is something we're not mandated to provide, but because of the needs of the community, we've been forced to put it in place. So it's almost all towards salaries.

Veterans Affairs committee  But what happens is that after the event is over, the family may not have been told about all the resources that are available to them, and then the assisting officer goes away after a number of months and the family is sitting there. The ombudsman's report clearly suggested that the information should be passed on to the family, and that the MFRC should get all the information as well.

Veterans Affairs committee  Gosh, no! They do a great job there.

Veterans Affairs committee  We get $1.18 million from the Director of Military Family Services, and I get about another $179,000 from the Maritime Forces Atlantic.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm going on last year's numbers. I'm mixing up last year's numbers with this year's, because I just got my new funding. At the end of the audit last year, 55% of my funding came from the Director of Military Family Services.

Veterans Affairs committee  The military family doesn't.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's a complete catch-22.

Veterans Affairs committee  First of all, Monsieur, I'm sorry for the loss of your father. It's the Department of National Defence that moves the military member. The family, by default, is forced to move as well. The point I was trying to make is that these military families should have some assistance from the federal government to ensure they're not giving up a family physician and going to a place where they cannot get one.

Veterans Affairs committee  He has the choice to live there. He has a choice to move. Canadian Forces families have no choice in the matter.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't know what all the legal liabilities are, but I do know that, as civilians, military families cannot access military physicians. I suspect that once a military member is retired or released from the Canadian Forces he wouldn't be able to see a military doctor. I imagine it has to do with liabilities, etc., around accessing military physicians.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's not around privacy. National Defence has come down with a ruling. We have our own privacy codes. So it's not a privacy issue; it's already been ruled on. I really believe it's an issue of will. As I said, the navy and the air force have wholly engaged, and that's not always the case--sometimes it is--with the army.

Veterans Affairs committee  I can tell you last year we had over 62,000 contacts with family members just in Halifax, within the area that I serve.

Veterans Affairs committee  I have three centres. My office in Cape Breton is quite small, but as you know, we had Task Force 107. We had a large number of people who deployed out of there. There were about 62,000 contacts with families last year.

Veterans Affairs committee  Actually, no, we've been really lucky in Nova Scotia that we have a commitment right from the top of the chain of command of the army, the navy, and the air force. They've been incredibly supportive, so we've had just tremendous success by all elements in doing this.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely, because they have a son, daughter, niece, or nephew, and they want to know what's out there. It could be a simple thing; they may want to send somebody a care package, so they make the connection. It's information they never would have had before. They can now connect.