Evidence of meeting #19 for Public Accounts in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bonaventure.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Okay, sorry, I thought you were indicating that I was out of time.
I have one last question. Have you ever met Mr. Claude Drouin, Mr. Polachek?
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Oh, wait a second here. This is something I would think you would remember.
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Okay, so we went from “I don't think so” to “no”. Are you sure?
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Okay. I was just very interested to see that there was some hesitation there. You have the chance to clarify once and for all, and I will give that to you. Are you sure that you've never spoken to Mr. Claude Drouin?
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Borys Wrzesnewskyj Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
I bring this up after Mr. Poilievre completed, because I did not want to interrupt what could have been an important series of questions. But prior to you pointing out to Mr. Poilievre that he had additional time available to him to ask questions, he made a comment that called into question your non-partisan approach to chairing this committee.
I think the very fact that you pointed out to Mr. Poilievre immediately afterwards that he had additional time he wasn't aware of....
We heard apologies at the start of this meeting. I believe that an apology is due to the chair for calling into question his integrity in the way he proceeds and chairs our meetings. I think it was quite inappropriate.
Obviously, it's up to Mr. Poilievre to decide whether in the heat of the moment he got somewhat carried away.
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Shawn Murphy
I think we'll just move on.
Thank you very much on behalf of the committee. I want to thank you, Mr. Polachek and Ms. Cochrane, for being here. I want to thank you very much.
These events occurred six years ago. You have to go back and refresh your memories, and it's not been an easy process. So I really want, on behalf of the committee, to thank you very much.
Do you have any closing comments?
12:45 p.m.
As an Individual
I'm sorry, I have no closing comments. But who should the follow-up information be addressed to?
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Shawn Murphy
It should go to the clerk, and the clerk will deal with you directly, Mr. Polachek.
There's one other item of business to come before the committee, and that is the motion from Mr. Wrzesnewskyj, and we will deal with that right now.
The motion is probably before the committee. For the record, I will read it:
As the Auditor General's report of October 2008, chapter 4 noted that 75% of soldiers who had reported mental health problems or disorders did not receive sufficient help; and Brigadier General Hilary Jaeger noted in her testimony that 27% of returning soldiers from Afghanistan have mental health issues ranging from substance abuse to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder; therefore the Public Accounts Committee calls upon the Auditor General to do an audit of the military health care provided to returning soldiers from operations in Afghanistan, with a special emphasis on the 27% screened to have significant mental health issues.
That is the motion. I'll ask Mr. Wrzesnewskyj to comment, but before I do that, at the last meeting one of the members, and I believe it was Mr. Sweet, brought up that one of the other committees is touching on this issue. I thought from something I read that maybe the Senate is also, and I'm going to ask the analyst to speak to that.
12:45 p.m.
Alex Smith Committee Researcher
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have checked with various analysts of the other committees that might be involved. The House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence is currently undertaking a study on the delivery of health care services to the Canadian Forces with a particular focus on post-traumatic stress disorder. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs tabled last June a report on support for veterans and other victims of post-traumatic stress disorder and other operational stress injuries and is currently undertaking a wide-ranging study on the veterans health care review and as part of that study is touching on the Department of National Defence and its services with respect to mental health and other operational stress injuries.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Shawn Murphy
Thank you.
Mr. Wrzesnewskyj.
I'm going to put a little closure on this. Two minutes for you, Mr. Wrzesnewskyj, and then we can entertain up to four or five interventions of one minute each.
Mr. Wrzesnewskyj.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Borys Wrzesnewskyj Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Thank you, Chair.
I think all of us here in this committee were quite astounded by some of the numbers and the percentages of the report. We're sending some of our best from Canada into a very dangerous area to fight a war, and they go knowing that they may pay the ultimate cost, but we're also sometimes unaware of the other costs.
It's well noted when someone dies--it just happened again this past weekend, and those sacrifices are always well noted. But the study seemed to indicate that there were very many who were suffering in silence. In fact, 75% of the soldiers reporting mental health problems said they weren't receiving the health care they needed.
I think it's up to public accounts to ask the Auditor General to do a performance analysis on this particular issue, especially when you consider that 27%, one of every four soldiers returning, are suffering some sort of mental health issues. Of that number, about 10% are suffering post-traumatic stress, so I believe this is something we should pay particular attention to. We should have the Auditor General go in there.
I noted that the defence department is doing its own review, but it's always good to have that oversight that an Auditor General can provide to really get into some of the numbers and see what in fact are the current things. We really do want the best for our men and women in uniform serving in a war zone.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal