Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 28th, 2012

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

In short, it's online: www.helmetstohardhats.ca.

In French, the hyperlink is http://duregimentauxbatiments.ca/

In January, Prime Minister Harper announced the partnership between the Government of Alberta, several trade unions and the TransCanada company. This partnership led to the creation of a website that manages and facilitates the official transition of our veterans to civilian life, particularly in the construction trades.

This program seeks to identify the training that our veterans receive in the Canadian Forces and acknowledges their expertise through accreditation in cooperation with the different units, workers and unions.

One good thing about this program is that the veterans are supported in establishing how these skills they have acquired in the military will be recognized in the civilian world. That's the greatest advantage of the program, which is managed by a career military person. I can tell you that a number of other partners have also come on board, including the Government of Ontario. Other companies would also like to benefit from this pool of potential workers, who are members of the Canadian Forces who want to work in the construction field after retiring from the service.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much, Minister.

That concludes round one.

I know you're prepared to stay for the rest, but we can use this as a break.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Do you want to stay a little longer or are you ready to go?

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

I'd love to, but I must be on my way.

Thank you for your attention.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much for being here.

We'll suspend for a minute while the minister leaves and other witnesses move in.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

We're going to resume where we left off.

Deputy Minister Mary Chaput is here, a rather familiar face, and Charlotte Stewart is back with us as well. Welcome.

I think you've got the gist of what happens. I don't know if you had any additional comments you wanted to make. Do you want to go right into the questioning?

[Mary Chaput]

Right.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Since we're back in order then, the first person I have listed is Ms. Mathyssen.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I very much appreciate you being here, Madam Chaput and Madam Stewart. I'd like to pick up on a question that was asked of the minister in regard to the $594,000 in savings that are anticipated.

I know Monsieur Chicoine touched on it, but could you give us a sense of where these savings can be found and what future sources of savings you would anticipate?

[Mary Chaput]

I'm sorry, I just couldn't hear the savings number you quoted.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

It was $594,000.

[Mary Chaput]

The $594,000 cited in the estimates relates to savings we will make by virtue of eliminating a certain degree of overlap and duplication in the services we provide and those that are provided by DND.

More specifically, in the course of moving toward Budget 2012, we and DND consulted and determined that it would be more appropriate for the Department of National Defence to take on what we describe as career transition services, treatment benefits, and VIP services as they relate to still serving members of the forces.

Prior to that point in time we had been doing so, and it was creating confusion for a still serving member as to which door to go to, the DND door or the Veterans Affairs door.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Are you going to switch? You don't have to use all your time if you don't want to.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Chicoine has a question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Okay.

Mr. Chicoine.

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to quickly touch on the hospital transfer again. The minister mentioned that an agreement had in fact been announced. A new government is in office now, however we still don't know when this transfer will take place.

Could you elaborate on this a little more?

[Mary Chaput]

Yes, sir. Indeed, during the election period, the work we were conducting on the transfer was suspended for a certain period of time. Both governments are now keen to get back to the table and work out the details of the progress they made prior to the election.

At this stage of the game, it's expected that the transfer will take place in either the first or second quarter of the next fiscal year. The main point is that both governments remain committed to the transfer, working through it with the original principles in mind. Those principles that both are committed to are, first, that the quality of care and range of services provided to veterans should remain constant, notwithstanding the transfer; second, that the provision of services in both official languages remain a constant; third, that the employees' rights, those working at the hospital, should be attended to so that the strong staff remain with the hospital during the transfer; and finally, that the asset value of the hospital in terms of plant and equipment be maintained over the course of the transfer.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

We'll go to Mr. Lobb.

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

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

My first question is regarding VIP. I'm wondering if you could tell the committee roughly how many veterans will receive VIP in this fiscal year.

[Mary Chaput]

In any given fiscal year, we have somewhere around 100,000 veterans who receive benefits under the VIP. There are three types of benefits: groundskeeping, housekeeping, and what I tend to call personal care. Most of the veterans who receive VIP are receiving groundskeeping and housekeeping, and a much smaller portion are receiving personal care. The personal care is intended to prolong the time that a veteran can remain in their house. It kicks in at the point at which the veteran may need help with things like getting in and out of a tub, negotiating stairs, or just needing a lot more physical help.

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

There are still four of five months left in the fiscal year. What do you figure the total dollar amount will be for VIP expenditures?

[Mary Chaput]

I'm going to defer to Charlotte on that one.

[Charlotte Stewart, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Veterans Affairs]

It's in the area of $350 million.