Evidence of meeting #6 for Veterans Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was best.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Greg Thompson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Right. The ombudsman for Veterans Affairs will be a full-time position, and obviously there are staff associated with that. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that the department has costed this out at somewhere around $10 million per year.
Would that be correct for an ombudsman, Mr. Stagg?
4:50 p.m.
Jack Stagg Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs
I think DND currently pays around $10 million internally for their ombudsperson, but also pays about another $7 million or $8 million for preparation on the other side, for materials for the ombudsman. They have approximately 150,000 clients; we have about 700,000, potentially, out in the market.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
I like the analogy of a bridge for the Veterans Charter. One of the things that concerns me—though all things concern me around veterans—is the invisible injuries of mental illness that aren't evident. I'm wondering, as part of that bridge, is there some cooperation for early recognition of these kinds of conditions? I know there's already cooperation between the Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs. Are the chaplains trained? Do we have other people who will be aware of these things, so we can catch them early and mitigate, if we can, even deeper pain that a soldier would feel from these kinds of incidents that happen in fields of conflict?
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Greg Thompson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
That's correct. That is actually happening today. There was an announcement last week in my home province of New Brunswick.... In fact, in my opening remarks I referred to one of these facilities going off-base into the community. It's still a factor. Sadly, we still haven't accepted mental illness as a disease. But we are doing that early intervention and working with DND very closely, so that when it's recognized, it's dealt with earlier. Of course, that's the secret; early intervention is the secret. We're having great successes in those areas. From what I know—and I don't pretend to be an expert in that area—I'm really encouraged by what the Department of National Defence is doing in cooperation with our department in recognizing early intervention and how we can work to avoid a bigger problem down the road.
In my talks with Roméo Dallaire.... He's really pleased. You understand his own personal story. I think every Canadian probably recognizes him as a hero. He has been very open, and he has probably done more for that type of ailment than any Canadian I know of. As I've said, and I repeat this, he sees what we're doing in cooperation with DND as probably the best system in the world now. We have the facilities across the country. Part of Ste. Anne's, which is examining best practices across the country and across the world, will be training a lot of our people who will eventually go into the field.
I think we're not only ahead of where we were, but I think we're ahead of most of the western world in terms of how we're dealing with it. Again, I think we can take a lot of pride in Veterans Affairs Canada for our lead in that.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Thank you very much.
Just so the committee knows, we're at an interesting juncture. In terms of the order of precedence, next we would go to the NDP, then the Conservative Party, then the Bloc, and then Mr. Thibault.
We have a couple of things. A colleague with the Bloc has requested that we move to the budgetary votes on the estimates. I'm okay with that because we have quorum right now to get that through it. That's fine, but Mr. Thibault has asked if he could ask a 30-second question, with the unanimous consent of the committee. Then we can move to the estimates and also allow Mr. Shipley's motion.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Gilles-A. Perron Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. I hope the Minister can wait for us. We could continue this meeting for a few hours, if he wishes, or even after we have...
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
I don't mean to cause any difficulties for the minister. We're certainly happy to have him here. He would probably like to see the budgetary estimates dealt with as well.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Greg Thompson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
I'm at your call, because I enjoy it. If you want, I'm more than willing to stay. We set aside the whole day, so I'm not worried about the time.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Mr. Thibault, I will take you at your word with regard to your question.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
I have one quick question for the minister. If he can't answer today, I would ask that he give us the answer in the future. I am asking for a clarification of what he was saying earlier.
It is my understanding that before assuming office, the current Prime Minister promised that upon becoming Prime Minister he would extend the VIP program to all survivors and spouses or widows or widowers of survivors. I would certainly hope that we could look forward to a timeframe for that.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Greg Thompson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Mr. Thibault, I don't believe that was in our platform. I don't believe it was. I'm not sure if I've ever seen that quote, but in fairness, I know that's one thing we had all hoped we'd be able to do. But again, having been a member of government, you know that at the end of the day, budgetary restraints on everything is always the big consideration.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Greg Thompson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Maybe we can do it in a piecemeal fashion, if you will.
Anyway, I do know that was not part of anything the Prime Minister has ever said. We made a lot of commitments, and some of those have been articulated here today by some of the members of the committee and by me. We're in the habit of honouring our promises and we'll do every one of them.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Mrs. Hinton, I'm going to beg you that we move to the budgetary estimates and read Mr. Shipley's motion just to save some difficulties in this committee, please.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Okay. On the budgetary estimates, on the first, shall vote one, less the amount of—
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
Mr. Chairman, if it will assist and speed things up, I think we are agreeable to all the votes on the estimates.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Okay. In other words, you want to vote on them all in one group.
Is that agreed?
4:55 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Shall votes 1, 5, 10, and 15 carry?
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Veterans Affairs Vote 1—Operating expenditures, upkeep of property, including engineering and other investigatory planning expenses that do not add tangible value to real property, taxes, insurance and maintenance of public utilities; to authorize, subject to the approval of the Governor in Council, necessary remedial work on properties constructed under individual firm price contracts and sold under the Veterans' Land Act (R.S.C. 1970, c.V-4), to correct defects for which neither the veteran nor the contractor can be held financially responsible, and such other work on other properties as may be required to protect the interest of the Director therein..........$856,769,000 Vote 5—Veterans Affairs—Capital expenditures..........$31,956,000 Vote 10—Veterans Affairs—The grants listed in the Estimates and contributions, provided that the amount listed for any grant may be increased or decreased subject to the approval of the Treasury Board...........$2,264,415,000 Vote 15—Veterans Affairs—Veterans Review and Appeal Board—Operating expenditures...........$9,401,000
(Votes 1, 5, 10, and 15 agreed to)
