Veterans Affairs Committee on May 30th, 2006

[Betty Hinton, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Good.

The rest of my time, over here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

There you go; we have two and a half minutes for our Conservative colleague.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

I have just one question. This follows from some of my colleague's questions regarding the huge amount of cases put toward the department, and then, of course, the substantial amount of cases coming for review. Considering as well that the length of time is one of the things that frustrates veterans and causes discomfort, has there been any direct dialogue...?

One thing you said is that one of the things the department can do is give you a good file. But has there been direct dialogue to say that one of the things the department can do is really take a look...? It's a high percentage, 60%, that you reverse a ruling on. There has to be some way to get on the same page so that the percentage isn't as high. Has there been some direct dialogue about that?

[Victor Marchand]

In its decisions, the board will regularly say, “Sufficient evidence was provided”, or “The story is credible, and I find in favour of the department.” So there's a hearing component that the department will never be able to do, and that's very important to understand, because the variety of cases and the varying levels of evidence brought forward will always be in the board's domain. What I can say--

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Okay. I only have about two minutes.

One of the things I wanted to mention is the passport application, for example. I find those rather intriguing. It has a separate sheet that says, “On question 2, do this.”

I'm just wondering, is the application process robust enough that the veteran understands that causal representation is required? Could that be bolstered somewhat, to reduce that amount?

[Victor Marchand]

I think the best thing the department can do is try to get it right and put together whatever means--claims, engineering, adjustments--they can fit in from a management point of view.

As a CEO of a board, that's what I would say: “People, get it right. Come and tell me why you're not getting it right, and we'll try to fix it.”

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

Time's up; sorry.

Normally we'd be giving another five minutes to our NDP representative, but since he's not here, and Mr. Rota hasn't spoken yet, I wonder if the committee would allow Mr. Rota the opportunity.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

Mr. Rota.

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really do appreciate that.

[Gilles-A. Perron, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

You have to go and sit in that spot now.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

I have to go and sit in the NDP spot? I don't think so.

I had the opportunity to visit Charlottetown last summer, and I saw the operations. I was very impressed with the amount of feeling that goes into it. A lot of caring goes into the decisions. They're not taken haphazardly.

When you have an appeal, though, I guess one of the points that was brought up earlier was the fact that it's another generation. It's not the generation that maybe you know, that I know, that it's okay to do this over the phone, or it's okay to do this via video conference. It's the personal touch, and that's a concern that keeps coming up over and over again in the riding: “I talked to the guy on the phone and I don't know what he looks like.” That eye contact means a lot.

Now, failing to have that, we can look at the people who are on the board and the representation they give. I looked at the map on page 12, the one that shows the distribution of the members. If you can't relate to that person because you can't see them, sometimes it helps to know that they're from the same region you're in, or the same area, so that there is that bit of understanding. According to the distribution on the map, we have 19 members, but the west is not represented at all. There are none from Alberta, none from Manitoba, none from Saskatchewan. Ontario, which is probably the most populous province, only has four. There are eight out on the east coast, five in Quebec, two in British Columbia, and none in the territories. There are ten spaces that have to be filled.

What are the timelines for filling those spaces, and how representative will they be of the Canadian population, spread across? We are one strong and united country, but we do have regional differences, and it would seem that someone from that area would be able to relate better to someone they know. Is that anything that comes into consideration, as opposed to just a very cold bureaucratic front that people come up against?

I'm looking for that connection between the person who's representing and the person who's being represented.

[Victor Marchand]

The board member who has a cold bureaucratic front is in difficulty with me. I want board members who have the skills and the working habits that make them amicable and where vets feel open and at ease with them. That's the objective.

To have the same board members in the same areas constantly is not a good idea. You need to shuffle the deck once in a while. Otherwise, you have certain types of decisions rendered in one area and another type in another, depending on the advocacy, depending on the nature of claims. So it is important to mix the board members coast to coast, have a systematic mixing of the people.

I agree that the complement is low out west. Our foremost priority is to fill the complement out west. I am hopeful that shortly we will have people out there.

Manitoba is not very busy, nor is Saskatchewan from a review hearing request accountability point of view. Alberta is busy and so is B.C.

What you must remember about the Atlantic regions is that board members in the Atlantic regions handle both review and appeals, so you will always have a higher number of people based in Charlottetown to handle both reviews and appeals.

There is a concern about bilingual capacity also. I must maintain always a regular complement of fully bilingual board members to handle Quebec, eastern Ontario, and the Atlantic provinces. So it is a juggling act sometimes, to get those members out and hearing cases. Our low number does not help, but I am very confident that it will be corrected shortly.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

My apologies, Mr. Rota, we are out of time.

The next rotation will be five minutes for the Conservative Party. Mr. Sweet, since you only had two and a half minutes last time, I will give you first dibs if you so wish.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

No. My question was answered.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

Do we have any others on the Conservative side? Mr. Shipley.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

I want to go back a little. When you're talking about the number, it is actually a staggering number of appeals that you hear each year and go through. When I first read that, it is actually a staggering amount that you cover. Having been involved in municipal work, where municipal boards have been involved, I know the importance of having the right people on them.

In terms of Charlottetown, we have these people all over the country who can't actually go. With technology the way it is now, is there not a way where these people could go to a major city and, through technology, video and whatever, have something in our offices in these major cities where they do go from time to time? Is there any value in that sort of discussion?

I am wondering also, because of the numbers, what is the backlog?

[Victor Marchand]

To answer your first question, the high-tech video conferencing stuff, I call it, people aren't too excited about that. People really don't like the video conference way of doing things. People are like that. They want a hearing. They want to see the guy 10 feet in front of them. They want to see him sweat, smile, or blink.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

But if he can't be there....

[Victor Marchand]

I know, but we can't force them to show up at a video conference room.

The telephone system works relatively better than the video conference system.

On the backlog, there are presently twice as many cases pending at the board than there were last year. It's as simple as that.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Has that been ongoing, that they're going to keep moving ahead of us, faster than you can deal with them?

[Victor Marchand]

The plan for the board is simple: it's to do as many as we can with what we have.

The board's priority is to be fast, fair, and friendly, and we're going to try to do it no matter what.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

There are two and a half minutes for the Conservative side. Do you have a question?

[Betty Hinton, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

It's not really a question. It's just some thoughts that are floating through my head.

A number of us sitting around this board table were on the veterans affairs subcommittee last year, and we heard from an awful lot of constituents and from an awful lot of veterans across the country about their concerns. I think everyone at this table is very concerned about what's happening, and we want to move things forward as well.

I wonder, do you have any sort of feel at this point in time, with the change in government, whether there have been any different thought processes about fast-tracking, speeding things up, anything like that, or are you in a position to even know that?