Veterans Affairs Committee on May 31st, 2012

[Keith Hillier]

Yes, we are looking at a number of things. I won't go any further this afternoon. I'm sure that once we finalize things, the minister will announce in due course further streamlining and further red tape initiatives, which staff are working on as we speak.

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

Perhaps, under the transformation initiatives, you could identify some of the wait-time reductions that have been achieved.

[Keith Hillier]

Well, with the wait-time reductions—and I'll tell you a little bit of a story of when I visited bases, and when I visit bases now, the changing—if it doesn't make a difference to the veteran, it's really not important.

On disability awards and disability pensions, a couple of years ago I would have come here and said “Gee, we're trying to hit 24 weeks, and we have a bit of a backlog”. Our service standard is 16 weeks. As of March 31 this year, we were hitting 40 weeks 80% of the time and 12 weeks 70.5% of the time. We were fast moving towards having cut the wait time in half. Approval for entry into a rehab program has been cut from four weeks to two weeks.

The one thing I would really highlight—I noted in my speech—is that fact of not having to get re-authorizations. It's not about how long you have to wait anymore; it's about the fact that you don't have to do it anymore. That makes things very....

How do I know it's working? When I visited Canadian Forces bases and wings, I would often get complaints that it takes forever to get a decision on a disability award. Now some people are coming up to me saying, “Hey, this is great. It took me only so long to get my decision.” That, to me, is the real test.

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

And, our veterans are saved the indignity of having to apply for it over and over again. Once they're approved, they're approved.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Okay, your time is up.

We'll move on, please.

Mr. Casey, you have five minutes.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Gentlemen, shortly after it was announced that the payments under the veterans independence program would be changed to lump sum, upfront payments as opposed to approval of expenses, I asked the Minister of Veterans Affairs in the House of Commons whether those upfront, one-time payments would be taxable, and he didn't answer my question. So, I wrote him a letter, which he hasn't answered. Do any of you know the answer?

[Keith Hillier]

The previous payments were not taxable, and it would be my expectation that this payment would not be taxable either.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

It's your expectation. I mean, that's the best you can do?

[Keith Hillier]

It's my understanding that the previous amounts were not taxable. My understanding is that the new system will not be taxable.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Hillier.

Mr. Parent, do you have any reason to hold a different—or qualified—opinion to what you just heard?

[Guy Parent]

No, I would certainly support the idea of a non-taxable payment, since, in its present form, it is non-taxable. I can't see how just making it a lump sum, instead of a series of payments, would introduce a tax addition.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Parent, you indicated in your opening remarks that you are about to engage in a detailed examination of the new Veterans Charter, as part of the next round of continuing to give effect to this living document. You indicate that this committee has directed that the changes be reviewed in 2013.

Sir, you're probably aware of this, but right now we're studying the transformation agenda. Our next study will be on the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. Given the work plan for the committee, would your recommendation be that following our look at the Veterans Review and Appeal Board, we should then be examining the next round of changes or enhancements to the new Veterans Charter, given the timeline that you've laid out?

[Guy Parent]

Thank you, that's a very good question.

As you probably are aware, we were instrumental in getting this clause in the enhanced new Veterans Charter reviewed in two years. What's important is that the new Veterans Charter, which was supposed to be a living document, was on life support for six years and then finally resuscitated at the end. We don't want it to get lost, we want it to be alive.

What we're doing is preparing, by providing some information, a basic foundation document that all people who are engaged in discussions about the new Veterans Charter can go to and speak from a common platform. That's what our team is engaged in right now—we look at recommendations from other groups and what some of the views of different organizations are, and put it all together. In fact, organizations have a tendency to pick and choose what they like and don't like, and to push that aspect, sometimes shadowing some of the good parts or some of the things that are also important.

Our intent is to be ready to do our part, whenever the committee decides to do the review, and in the process to also inform other organizations.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Parent, last week I had the pleasure of meeting the board of directors and reviewing the report prepared by the Equitas Society, which, as you know, feels there are many cases where soldiers and veterans under the new Veterans Charter are treated worse than people under provincial workers' compensation systems. Will that analysis form part of your review, and should it form part of ours?

[Guy Parent]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, that's a good question. Certainly, I would expect that any work being done by any organization toward improvement of the new Veterans Charter should be reviewed by the committee. As far as organizations are concerned, we will be following up on all reports that people have produced, so our approach will certainly be that anything that is published on anything that has to do with the new Veterans Charter will be looked at.

As you're also aware, because of our independence we do not support any specific organization, but we listen to them all. I think I've said that publicly before. We're there to be the ear for the veterans, and we listen to them all. We pick up any point that is of value to add to our work, anything that is founded evidence, not rumours or assumptions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you.

You can certainly have one quick question.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Hillier, at the last meeting I tried to get this committee to look at the changes that are coming through under Bill C-38 to the statute that deals with veterans pensions. Are you able to explain what they are?

[Keith Hillier]

I'm not familiar with all the provisions. I believe what you're referring to is the omnibus bill. From my side of the business, on the service delivery side, I'm not involved in the drafting or preparation of the legislation. I couldn't be an expert witness in that area.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Right.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you, Mr. Hillier.

Now to Mr. Chisu for five minutes.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Mr. Parent, Mr. Hillier, and Mr. Walbourne for appearing in front of the committee.

I have questions for you, Mr. Parent and Mr. Hillier. I will be very brief and quick.

What is the trend in your case services, Mr. Parent? How much information do you get from veterans, from members, or from the forces? What has the trend been in the last five years? I am a veteran, so I simply set the stage. I retired in 2009, and I've never heard about your service.

[Guy Parent]

Thank you for the question.

What's important to realize is that we do keep track of all the complaints we receive, and this provides the basis for systemic issue review. In general, we get about 9,000 calls or contacts a year. We categorize them. At this point in time, most of the ones that we get are related to health care—health care provision, health care travel, that sort of thing.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Are these increasing or decreasing? What is the trend?

[Guy Parent]

The categories haven't changed at all. Health care remains the top one. The application for benefits remains the second, and the third one is other jurisdictions. That remains pretty well constant.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Do you receive these from the regular force, or do you have—