Veterans Affairs committee  I was a civilian who served in Afghanistan. There are many civilians across Canada who also served over there. In the hospitality section, I actually drove far off the base. I fuelled up tanks and TLAVs, and stuff with dangerous jet fuel. When I came home, I had hearing loss from over there as a result of a rocket attack.

Veterans Affairs committee  As far as the Navy Club is concerned, we found out about it three days before the application had to be put in, so we didn't have any time to prepare for anything. There was absolutely no mention prior to three days before.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, not at all. In fact, if you remember the throne speech this year, there was no mention of service clubs. It was only the Legion that was mentioned. That came back to the Speaker of the House, and it was corrected. But that's the same attitude that a lot of Canadians have. You'll say the Navy Club, but what is that, and where is it?

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, definitely a lot of clubs could have been saved if the money had been out there quicker. The dilemma was that this was the first time anybody had been through this, so nobody really knew what to do. I know they had to look after the regular citizens of Canada first. I understand that.

Veterans Affairs committee  The community is basically feeling that effect now, with us being closed just for the lockdown and the pandemic itself. I can't imagine how devastating it would be if it were for good. There's Simcoe Hall Settlement House. We have a lot of people who are looking for food in Oshawa.

Veterans Affairs committee  All right. Thank you very much for noticing me sitting here. I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak to the committee. As Mr. Davis just said, this has been a very long process. I don't understand these meetings in particular. You've had several of them now, with the common denominator being the same every time: help.