House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2011, with 35% of the vote.
Questions on the Order Paper January 31st, 2011
Mr, Speaker, the Government of Canada is committed to spending the allocated funds. On December 22, 2010, the Government of Canada announced an extension of the agent orange ex gratia payment, changing some of the criteria and deadlines to ensure people affected by agent orange can qualify for the ex gratia payment.
Veterans Affairs December 16th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I am rather surprised by the hon. member's comments when we are the ones correcting their mistakes.
I want to remind the hon. member that when the new veterans charter came into effect, a number of people were not entitled to the permanent monthly allowance because of an error, a gap that they had introduced in their bill. This government is in the process of rectifying the situation. Soon, 3,500 people will benefit from that. It is this government that has just provided an additional $2 billion for veterans.
Agriculture December 14th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform the hon. member that we received a letter this morning from Levinoff-Colbex. We are analyzing this case. I also want to remind the member that our government has offered $9.6 million to save Levinoff-Colbex. That offer is conditional on a viable business plan, of course. We will look at the letter that came this morning.
We have spent $25 million to offset the added costs of processing SRMs. Levinoff-Colbex has received funding and will continue to receive money under this program.
Veterans Affairs December 7th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, 3,137 people received an ex gratia payment to help them with the difficulties they encountered after the spraying of agent orange near Gagetown.
When the government creates a program like that one, it eventually comes to an end. And when it does, it is time to do an assessment and look at what problems still need to be addressed. That is what I am working on.
Veterans Affairs December 7th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, insofar as agent orange is concerned, I want to remind the House that while people suffered, the government that preceded us never did anything to help them. When we took power, we decided to provide a $20,000 ex gratia payment to some 3,137 people. That being said, yes, the program has ended now, but we are busy looking at various things to see whether we could do more for these people.
National Defence December 3rd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that I cannot speak about a specific case here in the House. But the Minister of Veterans Affairs is making all sorts of changes in order to be able to fully respond to our veterans as quickly as possible. By introducing a new bill, we are in the process of granting additional services to our veterans, particularly injured soldiers returning from Afghanistan, our modern-era veterans.
Questions on the Order Paper November 29th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), the first priority of the Government of Canada is ensuring that our veterans at Ste. Anne’s Hospital continue to receive the exceptional care they have earned and deserve. The number of veterans eligible for admission to Ste. Anne’s Hospital is steadily declining and it is anticipated the number of vacant beds will increase.
In order to ensure high quality care to veterans, Ste. Anne’s Hospital needs to maintain a minimum number of patients. The transfer of Ste. Anne's Hospital to the province of Quebec would allow the hospital to be fully utilized, maintain its high quality of care, and be of benefit to a greater number of Canadians. Key considerations for the Government of Canada in any transfer are the continued priority access to quality care and services for veterans and the interests of employees.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, as the delivery of health care became a provincial responsibility, and with the inauguration of universal hospital insurance, the 1963 Glassco commission recommended to the Government of Canada that Veterans Affairs Canada’s ’s departmental health care facilities be transferred to the provinces. At that time Veterans Affairs Canada was offering care to veterans in 18 federally administered facilities, including Ste. Anne’s Hospital. In response to this recommendation, it has been a long-standing policy of the Government of Canada to transfer Veterans Affairs Canada facilities and 17 departmental facilities, with the exception of Ste. Anne’s Hospital, have been transferred to the provinces in which they were located. Ste. Anne’s Hospital is the last remaining federally owned veterans hospital.
Veterans Affairs Canada is committed to providing quality care for veterans at Ste. Anne's Hospital and this commitment will be protected in any eventual agreement to transfer Ste. Anne’s Hospital. All veterans who are eligible to receive care at Ste. Anne’s Hospital will continue to receive expert care in their time of need.
In response to (b), actual financial impacts would depend on many factors. These include the date and terms of any eventual transfer agreement reached with Quebec, and the number of veterans residing at Ste. Anne’s Hospital at the time.
In response to (c), the financial breakdown would depend on several factors including the date and the terms of any eventual transfer agreement reached with Quebec. Therefore, the financial details cannot be estimated at this time.
Agri-food Industry November 25th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, we consulted the Consumers Association of Canada and the processors as well and there is currently no consensus about whether we should exclude items such as salt, spices and vinegar. There is currently no consensus at the Consumers Association of Canada. We are exploring another option that is very promising.
Veterans Affairs November 18th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, being homeless is obviously not desirable. That is why we encourage people who meet potentially homeless veterans to let us know. In addition, we recently implemented support measures in Montreal and Toronto to identify these people and to provide them with the services to which they are entitled.
Veterans Affairs November 18th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, once again, the bill we introduced yesterday is an important one. Everything in that bill is based on recommendations made by veterans' organizations. We are obviously working on priorities. We had to immediately resolve the issue of wounded soldiers returning from Afghanistan in order to ensure that they and their families did not have any financial concerns. That is the direction we took. We will be injecting $2 billion to support our veterans.