Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 22nd, 2011

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Lobb.

I just want to make a point, Ms. Tining, and Mr. Hillier. I'm not asking you to comment, but one of the things that has been coming up lately in my riding is the issue of the department using Google Maps in making decisions on claims by veterans, for example, who are perhaps going from Cold Lake to Edmonton to receive benefits--such as hearing aids for hearing loss. If they hit construction, their Google mapping will be out by 10 or 15 kilometres and the veteran's claim will be denied.

Could the department look at that?

[Keith Hillier]

Yes, we are aware of that concern and we've fixed that.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Thank you.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

That's good to hear. That quick improvement must be part of the transformation at Veterans Affairs.

For either of you here today, regarding my previous questioning about the transformation of service delivery, I just want to reiterate that this was an area of real concern to Colonel Stogran who requested improvement.

How is the average Canadian and the average veteran going to know that Veterans Affairs has made improvements? Certainly, you folks come here and tell us that you're going to make all of these improvements, and we believe you, but where can someone go to see the metrics of the improvements that you claim have been made, or that are going to be made?

[Suzanne Tining]

Thank you for this question.

Keith is the ADM of service delivery and he has boots on the ground and his hands in it, so I'm going to ask him to give you concrete examples of how it will be seen by Canadians and veterans.

[Keith Hillier]

First of all, last year we reduced the wait time for disability awards and disability pensions from 24 weeks to 16 weeks, and we're en route to 12 weeks within the next year. What does that really mean to veterans? It means that last year we put an additional $65 million, I believe, in the hands of Canadian veterans. So they got their money faster.

With respect to the various claims they make, you made reference to health-related travel, and these types of claims now can be direct-deposited to a bank account. With regard to people who have injuries for which they will need care for many years, they no longer have to requalify each year for their treatment benefits plan. Once they've been approved, they've been approved unless a physician orders otherwise.

I think it will take a little bit of time for Canadians and veterans to see some of the things we've actually started. For example, in August of this year we started our digital imaging project at Matane, Quebec. So the service health records from archives are now going to Matane, Quebec. We've so far created digital images of more than 500,000 documents. This will take time to work through the system. We're also working with our colleagues at DND to gain access on a very timely basis to the Canadian Forces health information system. These are fundamental projects that will take some time before we actually see their fruition.

The other thing we've done is that we've put in a virtual network of call centres across Canada, using the next available agent, which is the latest Internet-based technology. All in all, I think things have started to move and I think that, as we do further enhancements to our online offerings through the My VAC Account, those will be things about which people can say, yes, it is different from the way it used to be.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

I have one quick last question. At our last meeting, we had the lieutenant general from the Last Post Fund as a witness to our committee. One of his comments in his presentation was that 28% of his budget is for operating expenses. He wasn't happy with that and was looking to make improvements. I'm wondering if there is a way that Veterans Affairs can work with the Last Post Fund to be able to share some resources and bring his operating costs down. I think all would agree that he has made some improvements to get it to 28%, but he would like to go lower, which I think is commendable. I'm wondering what Veterans Affairs can do to work with him so he will be able to deliver more dollars instead of those going to operating expenses.

[Suzanne Tining]

I certainly agree that it's commendable, but we as are funding the operating costs and the costs of funeral and burial through a contract with the Last Post Fund, we have been working with them to try to lower their administrative costs in administering the program on our behalf. I think we've made great progress. I think the fund has made great progress in simplifying its own administrative services to get to lower overhead costs of administering that program on our behalf. We certainly are deeply interested in getting these costs to a lower percentage of overall program costs.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much, Ms. Tining.

That concludes that round. I am going to make a suggestion. It's up to the committee whether you want another round or not. If you do, it will be a brief one-question round. It'll be one brief round, because I'm going to move at 10:30 to the votes on the supplementary estimates and to make a quick comment about the next meeting.

So are we in agreement for the next round?

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

We're actually looking to have some committee business discussed.

So we could thank the deputy minister and the ADM.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Then that's the will of the committee. You'd have to move a motion if you want to end the questions at this point, because we had agreed to go.... So if you want to move a motion, it will be a votable motion.

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

I believe Mr. Lobb has moved that motion.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

I would move that we conclude the questioning portion of this meeting and move on to the remainder of the business we have at this meeting.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Okay, there's a motion on the floor.

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

I hate motions that are debatable.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

It's unfortunate that it's a debatable motion, but it is.

Even so, I'm going to get to the vote by 10:30.

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

I understand. In the spirit of where we are in terms of the numbers, we don't often get the minister and his staff before our committee. There are some other single questions we wouldn't mind asking. I know we have a million questions; you can never ask them all. But we don't often get the privilege of their experience here. They're extremely busy people. We have a lot of time to do committee business and the vote on these supplementary estimates. Having another quick question from each of us, as you said, of one minute each, I don't think would delay the process we want to do. I think, just as a courtesy to the opposition and yourselves, it would be most appropriate to ask the one-minute questions of our esteemed officials.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you.

Mr. Casey, you had a comment.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

I agree with Mr. Stoffer. The witnesses are here. We have 30 minutes until the end of the meeting.

I have not had an opportunity to question these witnesses, because the rules set by the majority at this committee, at the outset of Parliament, only allowed me five minutes or one turn. I would very much appreciate the opportunity to question these witnesses. I think it's manifestly unfair that the majority impose their will to shut down this meeting and deny me that opportunity.

I have questions. I'd like to have the chance to pose them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Are there any other comments?

Yes, Ms. Eve.

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Chair, you know, I think we've heard the same song and dance from the Liberals many times now, somehow indicating that the amount of time they have available to speak in this committee is patently unfair.

In fact, the Liberal Party's representation at this committee is directly reflective of and proportionate to the type of confidence that Canadian voters placed in the Liberal Party. It reflects their representation in the House of Commons. That's how we've come to be to this point.

But I take Mr. Stoffer's point very well.

You're suggesting one minute for questions and answers?

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

Yes.

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

I think we can see one-minute questions and answers, but we have a little bit of committee business at the end that we'd like to discuss.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Are we in agreement, then, that we will have a quick round of questioning? I will wrap it up in 15 minutes, so the questions are going to have to be very precise.

Is that agreed, that we carry on?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.