Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 9th, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Hang on. Order, please.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

That's Albina being clever.

[Albina Guarnieri, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

No, no.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

This is connected to the budget, but I'll explain that at a later date.

[Albina Guarnieri, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

But you belaboured the point.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

A former Minister of Veterans Affairs should understand that connection, but following the meeting, I'll meet privately with Albina and explain it, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you.

Mr. Minister, do you have some closing remarks? You had informed the committee that you had a timeframe of 5 p.m., so I would like to honour that.

By the way, I should note that Mr. Stoffer was the one who said that he was very impressed that you had responded to the committee very quickly. It was not a partisan statement. We're all very appreciative of the fact that after just inviting you last week, you are here.

So I want to give you the opportunity to make closing remarks, or if you have some extra time, then we'll go the extra round.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Well, would closing remarks pre-empt all of the future discussion, Mr. Chairman?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Yes, if your timeframe is still the same.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Not that I want to run out the clock, and I won't run out the clock, but I want to say that I think it is important to get together like this, at this committee. You truly do good work. We will have our disagreements here at the table; I guess it's a question of how fast we can get to where we all want to be.

I think we have done a pretty fair job. I suppose I could give myself higher marks and say we've done a heck of a good job, an excellent job, but the truth is that the work will never be done when it comes to our veterans. I mean, we have some real challenges there. I think we've addressed many of them. We've honoured the commitments we've made to them over the past number of years.

The one that we focused on today, in terms of a commitment we've made and haven't honoured, is the allied veterans. That's a commitment that we'll honour.

I think our record in terms of achievements speaks for itself, Mr. Chairman, and we're going to continue to move forward on all of those files.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Ms. Tining.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

I've just received a note that the deputy minister and the assistant deputy minister will be here before the committee on Wednesday, so that's encouraging news for Mr. Stoffer and others. They'll probably be on better behaviour if the minister's not here.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Minister, for your testimony.

We will recess for two minutes, if people want to bid the minister goodbye. Then we'll have some committee business to attend to.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, we have some business we need to go through that I need to ask you about. Some of it is to advise you of things that have been done and get some feedback from you if you want additional work done. The rest is on invitations and future business.

Mr. Stoffer, you asked that notification go out to veterans organizations regarding the makeup of the members of the veterans affairs committee. I just wanted to let you know that the Royal Canadian Legion, the National Aboriginal Veterans Association, the Korean War Veterans Association, and the Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans have been advised. Are there any others you want advised?

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

The UN peacekeeping one should be advised, and Cliff Chadderton's group, the National Council of Veterans Associations. Those are the six big ones, of course, and then there are many other smaller groups across the country.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you.

Does that meet with the approval of the rest of the committee?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you very much.

Next we have a letter drafted here. Is there any input on it? Does it meet with your approval? It's for the former chair, Mr. Anderson, giving him best regards and thanks from this committee. That's acceptable.

I also want to remind you it's the 60th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. There's an ice sculpture that the minister's unveiling on Thursday, February 12, at 7 p.m. Everybody's aware of that. I believe you've been notified. You'll be notified again, because there's a change in where the reception will be. It was supposed to be at the Lord Elgin Hotel, but it will now be at the Cartier Drill Hall beside City Hall.

We had this event last year, but it was during the day--when the ice sculpture was unveiled. It's a nice ceremony. I certainly hope it will be warmer than last year.

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

If enough of us want to go from the House, maybe we could get a bus and go as a group.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I guess we could do that, but I would have a hard time justifying the expense for two blocks.

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Is that all it is? This is not the one that's way out there.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I don't believe so. I believe it's just around the corner. Is that correct?

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

We could take a green bus down.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

It's just a nice little stroll--as long as it's not as cold as it was last year.

Albina, do you have a question?

[Albina Guarnieri, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

No, I was just going to say it's very close--it's walking distance from here.