Mr. Chair, I want to pay tribute to the veterans affairs minister for being here for the entire debate tonight.
A person in Ontario wants to remind all of us that it takes six years for members of Parliament to get a pension but that it takes older members of the military 20 years to get a pension and 25 years for new members which is clawed back until the age of 65 or when they become disabled.
My question is for the hon. member for St. John's East who is the defence critic for our party.
A gentleman in my riding served 31.5 years in the military and is being 3(b) released, which means that he is being medically released. He paid into the EI system for 31.5 years so he thought he would be able to collect EI sick benefits. Unfortunately, he was told that even though he paid employment insurance benefits for 31.5 years, because he would be in receipt of an annuity he could not collect employment insurance sick benefits even though he was being medically released from the military.
In the final minutes of this debate I would like to thank everyone for their comments. I would like to give my hon. colleague from St. John's East the opportunity to say how wrong it is that someone who has paid into a program for 31.5 years and is medically released from his job cannot collect EI sick benefits.