Evidence of meeting #12 for Veterans Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was insurance.
A recording is available from Parliament.
BGen Sanzio Bonotto
I'm thinking that it is possible to leave, but you won't be paid the maximum.
Conservative
Phil McColeman Conservative Brant, ON
For the 80%. Okay. That's fair enough.
Also, to meld this in, the comment about having to reduce the size of the military was that it's budgetary. It had to do with the fact that there's perhaps not enough money in the national budget to support the military operations you currently have. Is that correct?
BGen Sanzio Bonotto
The budget is going to be reduced. For our size, that is the budget we have, at least when we look at other nations. The budget has 50% to pay the personnel and 50% for research, development, maintenance, and so on. If the budget goes down, you have to pay the personnel, so the amount goes from 50% to 51% to 52% to 53%. If you want to maintain 50%, you have to reduce the strength of personnel.
You reduce a lot. After conscription, you reduced a lot of people. Before, it was mandatory that every person had to join the armed forces. Without conscription, only the volunteers join the armed forces, so you lose an amount there.
We are still waiting now. They are going to reduce our strength. In 1970, 1972, 1975, and 1980 a lot of people joined the armed forces, because the thinking was, okay, you have a lot of money. We are still waiting for these people to go into retirement. Probably we are going to reduce those numbers, but in 10 years or so.... Of course, if the budget is more, you can have more people. You can have a lot of--
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
Mr. McColeman, I'm sorry, but your time's up.
Unless Madam O'Neill-Gordon will give you some of her time, that has to be it.
For five minutes, we'll have Madam O'Neill-Gordon.
Conservative
Tilly O'Neill-Gordon Conservative Miramichi, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for being with us today.
I'm going to go back down the road my colleagues went down previously. If we have a veteran and his wife who are 75 or 80 years old and are not really capable of doing things in their home like dishes and laundry, just the normal cleaning, can they have someone come in and provide this service to them as a result of being a veteran?
BGen Sanzio Bonotto
It's not official and not from the state, but there are other kinds of associations that can help these people. It is not from the state. The state has aid for them after they reach 65 years of age, when it is free for everybody, but if you need another kind of care, the state doesn't give veterans extra--
Conservative
BGen Sanzio Bonotto
No. There is nothing extra for them, but some associations do a lot of jobs that the state is not able to do because there isn't the money for that. These kinds of associations can help veterans who are not able to provide for themselves and they may also pay for hospitals, for a maid, and probably for doctors, but that is not official.
Conservative
Conservative
BGen Sanzio Bonotto
The government pays only when it is official, so if a person gets help, it is not because he is military but because he is an Italian citizen. All Italians are treated the same.
Conservative
Tilly O'Neill-Gordon Conservative Miramichi, NB
I have another question. If you have a spouse and his wife and he's drawing his veteran's pension, does she continue to receive that pension at his death?
BGen Sanzio Bonotto
Yes. It's called a pension of reversibilidad. The pension goes from the husband to the wife.
Conservative
BGen Sanzio Bonotto
It depends. If the wife has another pension of a reasonable amount, probably there is some cutting, but the pension goes to the wife.
Conservative
Tilly O'Neill-Gordon Conservative Miramichi, NB
Does she receive less of it? Does she receive the same?
BGen Sanzio Bonotto
I think she does, but I am not sure about that. She probably does. It's called a pension of reversibilidad. I don't know what it is called in English when the pension goes from the husband to the wife. Also, that is not only for military men. If you are a civilian or in another compartment, sometimes the pension goes to the other partner. It would be possible for it to go from the wife to the husband. It depends on who was working.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
Do you have another follow-up question, Phil? You have one and a half minutes.
Conservative
Phil McColeman Conservative Brant, ON
I'm a little curious. My earlier questions were leading to how this eventually affects benefits to veterans. In my mind, this is really a user-pay system in the sense of private insurance providing the benefits.
At the end of the day, how does that reflect on veterans? Does it provide, in your mind, as good a system as could be provided if it were handled differently, if it were handled by government institutions?