Government Operations Committee on March 10th, 2026

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I call the meeting to order.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome back to OGGO. This is meeting number 30 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

We have one witness today for our first hour. He will be appearing virtually.

We are having a bit of an IT issue. I would ask everyone to please speak slowly so that we can have proper interpretation. We'll do this for an hour.

At the end of the second hour, I have a couple of items of business regarding witnesses and budgets, so I need about two minutes at the very end just to go over a couple of items with everyone.

We'll now welcome our guest, Mr. El-Daher.

You have five minutes for an opening statement. Please go ahead, sir.

[Toufic El-Daher, National President, Union of Veterans' Affairs Employees]

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to present recommendations to improve the efficiency and the quality of the services provided by Veterans Affairs Canada and the bureau of pensions advocates, or BPA, in particular.

With respect to Prime Minister Carney's directive to reduce government spending, it is important to remember that the mandate of Veterans Affairs Canada is directly connected to the government's fifth priority, namely to protect Canada's sovereignty and keep Canadians safe by supporting the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, and all those who have served the country and their families.

Since the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP are exempted from the 15% reduction, for consistency, Veterans Affairs Canada should receive the same treatment to maintain an adequate level of service for veterans and their families.

In a world fraught with growing instability, regional conflicts, shifting alliances and geopolitical pressures, Canada should expect to see an increase in veteran-related needs. It would be counterproductive to water down Veterans Affairs Canada's services at a time when demands on the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP are set to grow.

I would like to draw your attention to an essential pillar of access to justice for our veterans, namely the bureau of pensions advocates.

The BPA is still the only free, impartial and specialized service that helps veterans to effectively challenge decisions related to their benefits. For many veterans, the service provides legal support and is a real safety net in a complex system where they should never be left to fend for themselves. It's therefore important that the BPA be protected, strengthened and recognized for its unique and indispensable role.

For the past few years, the BPA has been calling for permanent funding for its term employees. We have constantly pointed out that the annual caseload continues to grow. The BPA is currently handling nearly double the prepandemic volume. In 2026 alone, it expects to receive close to 25,000 cases, double the prepandemic number, even as it faces a backlog of 27,000 cases.

All possible internal measures have been taken, and these concerns have been raised multiple times with the department. Unfortunately, the response has not changed, and there is no willingness to provide additional financial funding.

The BPA has now been forced to cancel plans to schedule approximately 300 veteran hearings for April alone. Effective April 1, the BPA will lose 44% of its workforce because the contracts of term employees were not renewed and the three-year temporary funding granted in 2023 has ended. This will affect 96 employees, including 24 lawyers.

Senior management at Veterans Affairs Canada has chosen to manage the situation internally and has unfortunately not submitted any requests to Treasury Board or the Government of Canada for the $9.5 million needed to extend the contracts, even though the BPA has been calling for stable, ongoing support for years.

Extending the contracts of term employees is the most immediate and effective way to stabilize the situation.

Allow me to close on a hopeful note. Canadian veterans and their families have shown exceptional resilience and commitment through their service. They deserve a system that reflects the same determination. With swift and responsible decisions, we can avert a crisis. We can safeguard access to justice and ensure that every veteran receives the support they are entitled to.

Thank you for your attention. I look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you very much.

We will start with Mr. Richards for six minutes, please.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for your testimony. I think you did a really great job of highlighting how catastrophic this will be for veterans.

I may have missed it in your opening, but one of the things that's really important for people to know, if they're listening to this, is that in almost 90% of the cases that go before the Veterans Review and Appeal Board, where the BPA is advocating for veterans, they end up getting a positive result. In other words, they get a better result than they had originally; or, in many cases, they're getting the benefits or services that they were originally denied. In the case that you mentioned, this means 300 hearings being cancelled in April. That amounts to 270 veterans, roughly, who will not receive benefits and services that they would have received otherwise that month. If you extrapolate that out over the course of a year, it amounts to over 3,000 veterans who would still be waiting or would perhaps be denied services or benefits.

Because you've laid out so clearly why this is important, why these people are needed and what drastic effects these cuts will have, I wondered if you could maybe just give us a bit of a sense of whether you, as the head of the union, were consulted by the minister. Did the minister have a conversation with you before these cuts were announced?

[Toufic El-Daher]

Absolutely not.

I should say that we had a national management-union meeting with the deputy minister and senior management of Veterans Affairs Canada in Ottawa on 15 January, and no one told us that the bureau of pensions advocates was going to cut 44% of term employees. They knew that. We keep hearing that they want to work with us in the interest of veterans, our members and everyone, and they failed to be transparent and to let us know then. We heard the news from our members, and since then, we've had to deal with one crisis after another.

Mr. Richards, allow me to add something to what you said concerning the 90% appeal success rate. They told us that because 90% of the few pension claims that were initially denied and then appealed ended up being approved, these positions were being cut. They want to modernize the system. I told them that there was no problem planning for modernization, but that they could not cut positions and modernize afterwards. They don't have any plan right now.

For goodness' sake, can they extend these employees' contracts for at least one year, to reduce the workload and to see what plan will be put in place? Will it be another system like Phoenix, which won't work? That's why I'm very hesitant about a system that they want to look into but is not yet in place.

Thank you for allowing me to respond.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

Yes, I certainly agree with you. It's the idea that what we can't have happen is for veterans to be affected, and clearly what we're hearing here is that they're being affected. Not only that, but key partners like yourself were not even consulted about this. You would clearly have raised alarms. This is why it is so important that this happened.

We were assured by the Minister of Veterans Affairs, both at the finance committee and at the veterans affairs committee, that no cuts were going to affect services to veterans; there were not going to be any cuts. When we're talking about 300 veterans who aren't going to have their cases heard, would this not constitute a cut to services to veterans?

[Toufic El-Daher]

Absolutely.

It's true that when we met with senior management on January 15, we were told that Veterans Affairs Canada was not going to be affected by the workforce adjustment and that that was good news. However, 44% of term employees and a direct service for veterans and their families are being cut.

Who are the first to pay the price? Unfortunately, that would be veterans and their families, who will have to wait months more, because no one knows when the April hearings will be held. The hearings will definitely be postponed by several months. Unfortunately, veterans are being hurt. The minister said there would be no cuts at Veterans Affairs Canada, but that's not what we are seeing. Unfortunately, the reality on the ground is quite different.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

You mentioned that we don't really know how long, but I've heard estimates that veterans could wait two or three years before their cases are heard. There are also situations in which veterans have already been working with an advocate at BPA for two or three years to try to get to that point, and now those will be wiped completely out because the people are gone. What effect is that going to have on veterans?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm sorry. Just give a brief answer, please.

[Toufic El-Daher]

Right now, without the 44% cut in term positions, wait times are two to three years. We expect the cuts to push wait times to between three and five years, at a minimum. The two-to-three-year wait time is without cuts and with no changes to the workforce.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you very much.

We will go to Mr. Gasparro, please.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, sir, for spending time with us today.

It's my understanding that the BPA will not be affected by the expenditure review. The organization has temporary funding that will be coming to a close, and as such, the organization will return to pre-temporary funding levels. My understanding is that the temporary funding was specifically designed to address workload issues, so the actual state of funding will go back to pre-temporary funding levels.

In budget 2025, it's proposed that Veterans Affairs Canada will receive $184.9 million over four years by way of service delivery stabilization and modernization funding, and that further to this, an additional $40.1 million in ongoing funding is proposed. Is that correct?

[Toufic El-Daher]

Absolutely.

Veterans Affairs Canada gave us those numbers during our management-union meeting on January 15. It's true that the three-year funding for 2023-26 you mentioned is temporary. However, the needs of veterans are not temporary. The backlog will grow to 52,000 cases, including cases for 2026. If these employees' contracts are not extended, wait times will stretch by years and we are going to have a crisis. Veterans Affairs Canada already experienced a crisis when the backlog in processing disability cases reached critical levels. The department had to make huge investments to reduce the backlog.

I am a proactive person. I want us to avert a crisis for our veterans. You're correct that this is temporary, but veterans are not temporary. There is a backlog of tens of thousands of cases.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I appreciate your answer, sir.

Expanding on that for a moment, would you agree that in terms of access to programmatic support, veterans have the same access to programs and services today that they did prior to the comprehensive expenditure review?

[Toufic El-Daher]

Yes, they have access to the same programs and services, but there will be fewer employees to help them, which will translate into longer wait times. Response times won't be the same.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Okay. Thank you, sir, for your very frank response.

Then there have been no cuts to either Veterans Affairs Canada benefits or programs, and the only program funding change is that the rate of reimbursement of the cannabis for medical purposes benefit will be at a lower per-gram basis. That is the only change to the funding programming. Is that also correct?

[Toufic El-Daher]

Absolutely.

We have been told that Veterans Affairs Canada would absorb the $4.2 billion or $4.4 billion reduction in its budget by modernizing the cannabis program. You're correct.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Thank you. That's it for me, sir.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

We'll go to Madame Gaudreau, please, for six minutes.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

It's a pleasure to welcome my colleague Mr. Richards from the veterans affairs committee.

I would like to welcome the witness.

I am upset. We have just completed a study on suicide among veterans. We are looking at the recommendations, and the one thing that stands out most is negligence. Why the negligence? Once military service is over, it's on to something else. That's why I'm going to ask the witness a few questions. He has shown this very clearly.

First, let us talk about administrative decisions. My understanding is that senior management at Veterans Affairs Canada did not submit a request to Treasury Board to extend contracts, despite the request for $9.5 million you mentioned.

Did the department tell you why no request was made to Treasury Board?

[Toufic El-Daher]

I had two calls with the previous deputy minister, who was acting. Veterans Affairs Canada has a new deputy minister now. During these two calls, the then deputy minister told me that she didn't have a solid rationale for submitting a request. I almost fell off my chair. I didn't understand why the backlog of 27,000 cases and the 25,000 cases expected in 2026 did not make for a compelling case to ask for $9.5 million from Treasury Board or the government.

We're not talking about hundreds or tens of millions of dollars. We're talking about $9.5 million to help veterans exercise their right to seek justice through appeal. I was told they were not going to submit a request and that they could handle the matter internally.

As you can see, Ms. Gaudreau, they've failed to do so.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

That is very concerning. As an entrepreneur, I know that at a minimum, any restructuring must be guided by a clear plan. If the choices were not clear from an administrative standpoint, does this mean that it's a policy choice? That concerns me, and I hesitate to ask you that question.

When it comes to possible solutions, you said that the immediate one would be to extend existing contracts.

If the $9.5 million funding were granted, how many more cases could be processed annually?

[Toufic El-Daher]

I spoke with the senior management, and I was told that despite the pressure and the increased workload, employees at the bureau of pensions advocates had increased their productivity by 65% with the current workforce. They're extremely efficient. However, they can't handle all the cases, because of a lack of resources, and we know that unfortunately, the government is not hiring right now. They're working with the available workforce, but you can just imagine what will happen if the workforce is reduced by 44%, Ms. Gaudreau.

I've been with Veterans Affairs Canada for 23 years. I was employed by the department before I became the union's national president, and I've seen things fall apart owing to a lack of vision or plan. That's what I'm seeing now, and that's why I'm here to raise the alarm. If nothing is done, veterans will face a crisis. They will face a crisis because they will have less money. They might give up on appealing decisions because they'll be fed up with the process and wait times. They will pay the price.

Does the government want that? Does it want to discourage veterans, so they don't ask for what they are entitled to? I hope not, because that is not the mission or mandate of Veterans Affairs Canada.

Honestly, I'm worried about veterans. I've been fighting for them for 23 years, and the current situation saddens me.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

This is a very emotional issue. As a social psychologist, I'm thinking about the human element.

What could be the human impacts of these cuts and this negligence with respect to strategic planning?

[Toufic El-Daher]

Longer wait times inevitably have significant human and financial impacts on veterans and their families.

From a human standpoint, people wait for months or even years. As we know, with the resources available now, an initial claim followed by an appeal can take two to three years. However, many veterans are grappling with physical and psychological injuries, and the delays make their health worse. All of us here know that. Waiting can intensify veterans' mental health challenges. It can also make them feel abandoned by the department. They may feel that Veterans Affairs Canada has turned their back on them, and they may lose trust in the system that is meant to support them.

The financial impacts are far-reaching. Veterans are not eligible for any benefits before their case is processed. If a veteran makes a claim because of hypoacusis, they will not be eligible for any related benefits until recognition of and compensation for the illness are available. The wait time is long. It can put veterans in vulnerable situations. They may not be able to pay their bills, and they get into debt. They struggle to provide for their families. Some of them are forced to delay medical treatment because they can't afford it, since it's not covered by Veterans Affairs Canada.

In summary—