Very specifically—and I appreciate the ruling, Chair—this is the machination of what we have here, which is an omnibus bill. Within the omnibus bill is an attempted correction of an injustice, as I think all of us around the House agree, whereby a clawback through the ELB was inflicted upon veterans who are suffering from various injuries, such as PTSD or other physical injuries, and only through a very expensive court case was the government forced to acknowledge this at all.
I'm going to quote Sean Bruyea, who appeared before this committee and testified on this very thing. Allow me, Chair—and I'll stop at this—to quote Sean Bruyea, retired captain:
Justice, or the appearance of justice being done, is plainly not being offered in Bill C-31. Should you pass the legislation as is, you will force the most disabled veterans under the flagship Conservative veterans benefit program known as the new Veterans Charter to enter the paralytic morass of years of unnecessary and bitter legal battles. These battles will sap the health, the family stability, and the dignity of military veterans and their families.
The fact that we have full awareness of what it is we're doing, which is inciting yet another round of litigation that is incredibly expensive and incredibly tiresome to the veterans who have already suffered once.... To re-victimize those veterans for the sake of what was offered only as a policy decision and to not allow this clawback to go back to the first moment when it started, which was 2006, is simply beyond me as a Canadian. I don't understand how we can talk about a Veterans Charter and respecting our troops.... If the government seeks to take a bow for this one because it was in their kindness that they offered to return this clawback, I fail to see many veterans celebrating it across the board.
Thank you, Chair.