Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Gentlemen, I say the following with the greatest of respect.
Mr. Mogan, you just said that one of the problems with DVA is the complexity of eligibility and the minefield that goes through it. Yet Mr. Miller just announced to Mr. Cannan the eligibility for the new VIP program. The reality is that 30% of widows who weren't covered before may be eligible. They have to have a CRA thing, a disability tax credit, or low income.
This drives me absolutely crazy. If you were in my area, and Bill Casey's riding in Truro, and said that to a bunch of widows, they'd be talking your ear off. Why are you basing it on low income? Wouldn't you consider a 90-year-old disabled enough, from old age, not to be pushing a lawnmower around or doing housekeeping?
It's absolutely unbelievable. You just mentioned the complexity of rules and eligibility and then added two more to a new program, when they were assured by government--this isn't to do with you, this is a political one that did it--that all of them would be covered. This is the problem that veterans and their spouses have. When they signed up and joined the war, nobody asked them how much money they had. So why are we asking how much money they make when they require benefits?
If you could change that in your health care review, that, sir, would go a long, long way. A veteran is a veteran is a veteran, and a spouse is a spouse is a spouse. You shouldn't be tacking on rules and regulations for people in their eighties. They simply don't understand it. They're just asking for help.
As you know, and as we've heard before, this is a generation of people who don't like to ask for help. It is a sign of utter weakness when they have to actually pick up the phone and call for assistance. For people in that generation, you can't just tell them, “Well, ma'am, you can't have it because you don't have a CRA credit.” I dealt with one lady who was told by DVA that she had to go and call the Canada Revenue Agency to see if she could get CRA eligibility before she could possibly apply for VIP.
So I just want to let you know that this is a problem.
The other concern I have is with regard to the forms. Mr. Sweet said a good thing on the PTSD forms, that filling out those forms--and I've seen them--can give you PTSD. You don't need to have it because filling out the forms will cause enough problems.
Again, if you can fix that problem, that would be really great.
The other one I have, sir, is that we've heard it from previous governments and the current minister that the benefit of the doubt will always apply when it comes to the veteran. But that's not true. DVA is one of the few departments around that will actually assign you a lawyer to help you go through the maze of eligibility, and the benefit of the doubt only applies if--if--the interpretation of the legislation applies to it. And that is one of the things they have. If you want to solve the problem with DVA....
You said in your report that 5,000 clients die every year. That's what you said. And that's true. But the reality is that 26,000 veterans die every year. So 21,000 veterans, including their spouses, are not your clients. We're losing on average 140 veterans a day, and their spouses, yet very few of them, really, are your clients.
Many of these people have never applied for programs because they didn't want to. They're not of that ilk. But when they do apply, I would hope that one of the changes you'll be able to impose and make it quicker will be to ask, “Did you serve?” If the answer is yes, then your answer should be, “How can we help you?” That really should be the criteria: “Did you serve?” Nothing else should have to apply.
Thank you.