Evidence of meeting #51 for Veterans Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was benefits.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Guy Parent  Veterans Ombudsman, Office of the Veterans Ombudsman
Sharon Squire  Deputy Veterans Ombudsman, Executive Director, Office of the Veterans Ombudsman
Bernard Butler  Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Commemoration, Department of Veterans Affairs

5:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis

You have one minute.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK

Can I give it to him?

5:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis

Sure, go for it.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

This is “him”.

5:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis

Sorry, we're out of time.

5:25 p.m.

Voices

Oh, oh!

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

This is a beautiful chart. Very quickly, because you mentioned the centre for excellence, where would you put it on this chart?

5:25 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Commemoration, Department of Veterans Affairs

Bernard Butler

The centre of excellence for PTSD...?

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

Yes.

5:25 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Commemoration, Department of Veterans Affairs

Bernard Butler

I'd put it just right here in the middle.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

You did mention that we've transferred health care to the provinces. There are benefits and disadvantages to that, and hopefully we will see some of that.

One of the things you see in the U.S. with them having VA hospitals and all their service being through the VA hospitals, you see a situation where.... For example, musculoskeletal injury is one of the leading causes of injuries with a lot of our veterans. We see in the U.S. that they've actually put chiropractors in the VA hospitals and used that facility to provide those services. Those are things that we hopefully will see as we compare things. Do you see an opportunity where that might transfer into Canada, or is that obviously too complex to answer in 30 seconds?

5:30 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Commemoration, Department of Veterans Affairs

Bernard Butler

It's certainly a complex question, but again I think the challenge in Canada is this issue around universal health care. If we have universal health care in Canada and veterans are part of that mix of Canadians, the challenge is to try to ensure, from our perspective, that we leverage the health care resources that are out there to help us help veterans without compromising, I suppose, the fundamental principles of universal health care.

It's a bit of a balancing act, I think, for the committee and it will be as you go forward, but as with the OSI clinics, that methodology, that model, seems to be working quite well for PTSD, and probably one that you might want to look at in terms of other contexts.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

I should state that the chiropractors have been commissioned in the U.S. forces, but there are opportunities to look at there anyway.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis

Great. Thank you.

That concludes the end of our time for today.

On behalf of the committee, Mr. Butler, I'd like to thank you and your department for all you do to help our men and women who have served.

I need a motion to adjourn.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

I so move.

(Motion agreed to)

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis

Thank you.