Bob Bratina

[Multilateral Instrument in Respect of Tax Conventions Act, October 15th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we are all familiar with our own statistics of the Canada child benefit. I am wondering if the statistics are correct for Timmins—James Bay, that 8,900 families receive benefits for a total amount in the 2016-17 year of $64 million. Would that be accurate? What percentage of that number does my friend think would be challenged?

[Status of Women, October 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, October is Women's History Month in Canada. During this month we celebrate the many accomplishments of women and girls in our country and are encouraged to learn more about the remarkable women and girls who have advanced gender equality for everyone.

Could the Minister of Status of Women tell the House what our government is doing to honour the lives and legacies of courageous women and girls from coast to coast to coast throughout Canada's history?

[Byron “Barney” Rawson, September 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, Hamiltonian Byron Rawson was the youngest wing commander in the British Commonwealth during World War II. Barney, as he was known, was an 18-year-old McMaster student when he enlisted in the RCAF. By April 1945, he had piloted bombers in 51 missions and earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses. Until last week, however, his grave was not marked by a military headstone.

Three months after returning home in 1945, at only 23 years old, Barney Rawson took his own life, two days before Christmas. Did he die in the service of his country? According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, he did. As a result of its inquiry, on September 22, with surviving family and RCAF members looking on, a war graves headstone was unveiled in memory of Wing Commander B.F.N. Rawson. Overhead was a flypast of an RCAF Globemaster and Hamilton's restored Lancaster bomber, the favourite aircraft of this great pilot and hero.

May Barney Rawson rest in peace.

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, most members of Parliament will receive critical questions and remarks about services. We work with many veterans in our office. One of my staffers was walking in a shopping centre and encountered a gentleman we had been working with and asked how it had all worked out for him. He said he had received a significant amount of money from Veterans Affairs as a result of the intervention.

There are many good news stories out there that are not told and should be told, because we are working hard for our veterans.

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we need to go through the process to find out exactly what the situation is and how it came to be where we are now.

I have to say, again, with all due respect to my friend across the way, that we heard testimony in veterans affairs committee about years, going back eight or 10 years, of requests and upset at delays and the lack of funding and the lack of resources. As a new government, we are in the position now of trying to correct mistakes that were made in the past.

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member across for his service in the RCMP.

This is a terrible tragedy that has come to our attention. We feel the shock and disappointment that everyone does. Our minister has taken steps to see what the best outcome can be for Canadians and veterans.

My friend across the way has had many years of experience, enough to know that knee-jerk reactions are not the way to deal with problems that may have complexities. The solutions may create unintended consequences down the line.

We are looking at this, and that is all I would like to say for now.

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Winnipeg Centre.

I cannot imagine that there is a single heart in this place that does not go out to the family of Constable Campbell. We grieve with them and share the frustration of Canadians, who are upset that a convicted killer has received mental health services through Veterans Affairs Canada. Unfortunately, my friends across the way are taking advantage of a tragic situation to once again play politics with veterans benefits.

While it may be cathartic for some on that side to adjudicate this case in public, it is essential to protect the privacy of veterans who are clients of the department, and for that reason we will not be commenting on the specifics of any veteran's personal information, including the medical benefits that he or she may access.

Our government made a commitment to make it easier for the men and women who have served in uniform so courageously and given us so much to access the benefits that they so rightfully deserve. In 2015, we pledged to make it easier for veterans to access services. We said we would do more to support families, streamline benefits, reduce the administrative burden, improve the veteran's experience with Veterans Affairs Canada and help veterans make a successful transition to life after service. These were ambitious goals, and our government is making progress in leaps and bounds.

The veterans community told us loud and clear that we need to make it simpler, easier and more user-friendly to access the programs and services of Veterans Affairs. They told us about the effect of the backlog of applications for benefits and services and the time they have to wait for decisions to be made. They also told us that they do not always know about the suite of programs and services available to them, both of which are a result of the 10 years of cuts we saw under the Harper Conservatives.

Over the past three years, we have made significant improvements to both the programs and services available and our ability to communicate them to veterans. To make it easier for veterans to talk to our staff about these benefits, we reopened the nine offices the Conservatives closed, opened a tenth one in Surrey and hired over 475 new staff, including over 180 case managers.

We also increased service in the north. In 2017, our staff made 12 trips to Iqaluit, Yellowknife and Whitehorse to meet with veterans and their families. Our staff is committed to ensuring our veterans and their families are better informed, served and supported. We owe veterans the means to get back on their feet and on with their lives, and that is what our department is committed to delivering every day: helping them to accomplish that with a successful transition and, after their release from the military, to rebuild their lives and enjoy a healthy state of well-being.

We learned from the 2016 life-after-service studies that while 52% of regular forces veterans report experiencing an easy or moderately easy transition to post-service life, 32% report having trouble. With the Canadian Armed Forces projecting an average of 2,500 medical releases per year over the next five years, we recognize the importance of strengthening our transition services to members.

We also recognize that no two veterans are the same. Each has his or her own personal history and experiences that result in different needs and challenges. This is why we hear so much about the department's flexible approach to benefits and services that can be tailored to each veteran and each family's individual needs. We have worked to create a system that can be adapted to each veteran's particular needs at that particular point in time. We saw that the cookie-cutter approach left some veterans falling through the cracks.

Our pension for life not only addresses the wide variety of needs of veterans but also takes into account feedback from veterans on the need to reduce the complexity of support programs available to them and to their families. Pension for life has three key pillars: monthly, tax-free financial compensation, services and benefits, and an income replacement benefit.

This income replacement benefit will consolidate six income support benefits into one single financial benefit to simplify the administrative demand on veterans and their families. Veterans told us to streamline our programs, and that is exactly what we have done.

Let me come back to the idea that no two veterans are the same. While some prefer to interact with staff in person, other veterans prefer to find information and manage their interaction with the department themselves, using online tools. Working with feedback gathered through the service delivery review, Veterans Affairs simplified its online system, My VAC Account. It made registration both easier and more secure, simplified the language and added functionality. Veterans can now communicate with department staff, including case managers, using secure messaging in their My VAC Account. They can ask questions about their benefits and services and get reliable answers from qualified agents.

The program is proving popular and is gaining more than 1,000 new users every month. The department has also taken concrete measures to improve service delivery by telephone, and is taking the initiative to reach out to veterans to get the information needed to support claims and explain benefits.

With all of these new enhanced benefits and services, and increased efforts to inform veterans of what is available to them, application rates have increased dramatically over recent years. For example, over the past three years we have seen a 32% increase in disability benefit applications. That is good news. It means more veterans are aware of the benefits for which they may be eligible.

To keep up with the rise in demand and ensure that veterans get the services and benefits they need when they need them, the government is spending $42.8 million over two years, starting this year, to improve service delivery to Veterans Affairs Canada. Following our announcement of this funding, Union of Veterans Employees president Carl Gannon Jr. tweeted, “$42.8 million over two years to rebuild service delivery capacity...I can more than live with this.”

We're going to do better to get veterans the benefits and services they need, when they need them. Following 10 years of nothing but cuts to funding and staff, we are rebuilding the trust of veterans with the investments needed to deliver services effectively and efficiently.

In addition to new funding, we have also made changes to ensure veterans receive the benefits they are entitled to. Veterans Affairs staff triage claims to ensure that veterans who apply for mental health services receive priority in their evaluation so they can receive treatment without delay. Mental health is an area where we provide access to services before a veteran is approved, in order to make sure they are getting the support they need to get better as soon as possible. Through additional staffing and process improvements, we have been able to increase the number of disability claims processed. For example, 96% of first applications completed for PTSD are approved.

As more veterans keep putting up their hand and asking for help, we want to make sure we have the staff and the capacity to make sure they have access to the services they need as quickly as possibly. To that end, we have hired more than 475 new front-line staff, new employees, to help ensure that veterans, Canadian Armed Forces members, RCMP personnel and their families are provided with the best possible services when and where they need them.

Make no mistake, Veterans Affairs continues to strive to provide faster, more efficient and higher quality service for our clients. I think all of us here can agree that Canada's veterans deserve respect, financial security and fair treatment. Be assured, our government is committed to treating our veterans with the care, compassion and respect they have earned.

It is important to remember, too, that there is a veteran involved in this case. The government of any day and any stripe has a responsibility to his or her health or well-being. What happened in Nova Scotia is a tragedy, and there is no person in the House who does not mourn with the family of Constable Campbell. No family should have to deal with the loss of their loved one. To play politics with so tragic a situation diminishes all of us and our responsibility to everyone involved.

We know there is always more to do, especially after inheriting a system left so neglected by the party opposite. We stand by our commitment to improve the lives of the men and women who have dedicated their lives to our peace and security.

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Courtenay—Alberni not only for his speech today but for the tremendous, motivated work he does on the veterans committee.

Sitting in the same meetings, we have heard the same testimony with regard to backlog. My question relates to the millions that would be available to do other things. Those millions perhaps come from the backlog. The backlog, which we heard testimony about, comes from the fact that we are informing veterans of benefits they did not know they were eligible for. That has created new pressure on the staff. I would ask my colleague to comment on whether the backlog, as he understands it, is a result of better information going to veterans.

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I would advise members on the other side that all of us became concerned when we heard about this. I believe the minister has said that the government is not going to be talking about the specific case, but that it is looking into the matter. I believe this happened about three weeks ago or so.

My colleague mentioned that the Conservatives took steps in the Clifford Olson case. The Olson information was released in March, and the steps were taken in June, which is three months. We have had about three weeks.

I wonder if the member could give us time to consider what steps we need to take in this matter.

[Petitions, June 20th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present petition e-1455 in both official languages.

The petitioners call on the Canadian government to seriously consider the reopening of the Canadian embassy in the beautiful and historic city of Sarajevo. The petition has been signed by hundreds of Canadians across the country who believe that it is in our best interest to provide diplomatic leadership in Bosnia and Herzegovina.