Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Stoffer, our mandate was to come up with a system that would result from a review of the present pension situation. That's the Department of Veterans Affairs. My personal views, of course, are not what I'm putting forward today. I'm only telling you my definition, or whatev

Veterans Affairs committee  --like I do, and you move to Ottawa, you don't get a chance to use your French any longer.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  His decision must go in writing, and it would go back to the person who generated the referral to the ombudsman in the first place. So it could be the minister's office, it could be a veterans organization....

Veterans Affairs committee  I think the secret of an ombudsman is that he's appointed by Parliament. He reports to Parliament. The Woods report gave two years to see whether the system worked or not. To whom does he report? Sir, he reports to whoever made the reference. If it was from the minister's offic

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I like the obligation that you don't bite the hand that feeds you, but somewhere within the system there has to be a better means of adjudication than the one we were enjoying when the Woods commission first sat. The whole system was bogged down with complaints. It was takin

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes; he's appointed by order in council on recommendation of Parliament.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I will try to answer, but I will say that the Woods report was 450 pages and the answer is in there. What the answer is, in simple terms, is what I've given--that is, whoever initiated the application is the one who gets the decision. Mind you, the decision doesn't

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. The ombudsman has to have the power to say the application is frivolous, without taking it any further. And that has been one of the strongest sort of modus operandi tools that an ombudsman has. At the moment, if the Canadian Pension Commission or the Veterans Review and A

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll give it to you quickly. It could be triggered within the system by a veterans bureau or veterans organization or something. It could also be triggered outside of the system. We do have in the Pension Act a proposal that a veteran can use his own lawyer, and some of that happ

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm struggling with one eye and a bad hanger.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, but if you come from Saint Boniface--

Veterans Affairs committee  To Parliament, sir.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct, but in the final analysis, he is an agent of the Crown. He's an agent of Parliament, which takes him right back to the fact that he was appointed by members of Parliament.

Veterans Affairs committee  I see it as friendly and advisory, and one more port of call to which a veterans organization could go if it were unhappy about a decision. It doesn't mean that he twists the ombudsman's arm. An ombudsman has to be a very strong person who has to know the law. But when it came up