Refine by MP, party, committee, province, or result type.
Veterans Affairs committee Board Members are appointed by the Governor in Council. Therefore, by definition, the government appoints them. It is within the discretionary power and jurisdiction of the Governor in Council to do that. At the Board, there is now a process in place whereby individuals must qualify on the basis of their competence.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee I don't understand what you mean.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee No, absolutely not. We advertise in the newspapers, or publish notices in the Canada Gazette, and we also advertise on our own website, where people can print off a form directly from the site or call us to get one. They then have to fill out an application, which is not necessarily easy to do.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee He is represented...
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee He is represented by an advocate from the Bureau of Pensions Advocates. They are public servants who work full time for the Veterans Affairs Department. That program has been in place for 90 years. Advocates would represent veterans returning from the World War I in their dealings with the Department.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee That's a budgetary matter. In actual fact, I am paid by the Treasury Board, acting on behalf of the Governor in Council. From a financial standpoint, I imagine my salary is paid out of the budget of the Veterans Affairs Department, but ultimately, it comes from the Governor in Council, as does your own.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee No. He simply wanted a copy of my opening statement.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee You're talking about the number of lawyers who were hired. There are six of them. I wasn't sure. But I can tell you we have hired six lawyers.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee I don't have an opinion. What I should tell you is the numbers. What I can tell you is what the vets want and get, and that's a hearing before a board member. I think the vet comes to this hearing well prepared. He comes with additional evidence, often on the advice of the advocates, and that's where we assess the credibility, really.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee Good afternoon, Mr. Perron.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee The first thing our client satisfaction survey showed is that people are looking for quick turnaround time when dealing with an administrative tribunal. Some cases require additional evidence, expertise, or research. So, we have to find ways of processing these files quickly. Unfortunately, some files do get bogged down.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee The solution is always to ensure that there is very tight operational oversight of the processing of cases. What we can say is that 90 per cent of our cases are adjudicated within 30 days. What happens to the other 10 p. 100 of files and why do they get bogged down? It's often because of problems obtaining medical evidence.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand
Veterans Affairs committee It was 58.7%.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
Victor Marchand