Veterans Affairs committee  No.

Veterans Affairs committee  No cuts.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, there is not.

Veterans Affairs committee  I won't get into speculating about how veterans should or should not feel; but again, I reiterate that there have been no cuts.

Veterans Affairs committee  It is in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars. I don't have the figure. I've been with the department for a number of years. In recent years there have been no reductions; there has actually been an increase in budgets over a number of years.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think there are two things that have driven the budget. Certainly there have been new programs. As I noted in my opening comments, Mr. Chair, there were changes to the permanent impairment allowance, and so on. There's a minimum threshold for injured veterans. Also, we have see

Veterans Affairs committee  It's $3.5 billion.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. I think it's very important to note that they are estimates. That's why the government provides programs such as those for veterans, programs that, again, are referred to as quasi-statutory. In the year, we actually update our projections, because then it's a little closer t

Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes I have.

Veterans Affairs committee  Let me start by saying that the population is decreasing. With regard to Second World War veterans, happily, the rate of mortality is such that people have been living longer, and that's a good thing. But that doesn't in any way threaten the budget or the benefits, because, as I'

Veterans Affairs committee  Keith Coulter was an independent assessor. I think that was the term. He actually did an assessment of the department and he filed a report back in the late summer of 2010, I think.

Veterans Affairs committee  No I don't.