Evidence of meeting #79 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 vac.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's good to see you all again.
I'm going to be very quick because I have very limited time.
The minister talked about a push model, which he is pushing, and you're implementing this push model. What are the consequences when an agent provides the wrong information? Who is responsible for that? I ask because that wrong information and the provision of wrong forms now leave that veteran out to dry. What happens? Is there a firing, is there disciplinary action?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery, Department of Veterans Affairs
A lot of stuff could happen. If it's is an honest mistake, it's a learning experience. If it's a recurring—
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
If it's a learning experience for a veteran who has given their life to their country and, all of a sudden, you say that we're just learning, my response is that there have to be some consequences.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery, Department of Veterans Affairs
There are and we actually deal with performance on a daily basis. It depends on the severity and the issue. At the end of the day, VAC is responsible, so we take those actions.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
My colleague, Mr. Samson, touched on one of my other questions dealing with the pain and suffering aspect of the pension for life. In that, we talk about the benefit amount continuing to be tax free, and that the method of rating the degree of disability will be unchanged.
I agree with my colleague. If someone's lost their legs, there are certain issues. They should not need to turn around every year and say, my legs grew back. There are certain conditions that can happen that they can recover from—I get that—but there should be a box that they should be able to tick and say, “This is it, so I don't have to prove that year after year”.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Commemoration, Department of Veterans Affairs
Mr. Chair, I'll respond to that question.
I think that there may be some confusion over that. It's really interesting because there was quite a controversy here over this in the last year or two, when a veteran came forward and said, “They're asking me every year, did I lose my legs?” First, that wasn't actually Veterans Affairs Canada. It was in another context, but we do have a veterans independence program and treatment benefit program where we do try to.... At one point, we reached out every year to do an assessment, really for the benefit of the veteran, to ask, has your condition worsened? Is there more treatment? Is there anything more we need to do?
Then there was push-back to the effect that we were constantly reaching out to question it, and a decision was taken to stop doing that. The fact of the matter is that, by doing that, some veterans were not getting the care they really needed because their conditions were changing.
The long and the short of it is that I really don't think we're doing that today in that context. Certainly, in the pension's pain and suffering award context, there would not be a scenario where we would be asking them to verify that they've lost their legs, for sure.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Thank you.
Can you just clarify whether it is true that the education and training benefit will provide $133.9 million over six years, or $22 million a year for six years?
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Great. I want to clarify that the Liberal commitment was for $80 million a year to create a veterans education benefit fund.
Last, Mr. Eyolfson asked you a question about the difference between the old pension and the new pension, and you said that Treasury Board has those figures. Can you send those figures back to the committee, so we have a chance to look at the difference. His question is on the record, so if we could get those answers, that would be fantastic.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis
That ends our testimony. I'd like to thank you all for appearing today and for all that you do to help our men and women and veterans who have served.
You have a motion to recess, Mr. Samson.
(Motion agreed to)
The meeting is adjourned.