Evidence of meeting #90 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 budget.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

General  Retired) Walter Natynczyk (Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs
Bernard Butler  Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Commemoration, Department of Veterans Affairs
Rear-Admiral  Retired) Elizabeth Stuart (Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
Michel Doiron  Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery, Department of Veterans Affairs
Charlotte Bastien  Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Oversight and Communications, Department of Veterans Affairs

12:35 p.m.

RAdm Elizabeth Stuart

There are different ways to measure personnel. PSPC has full-time equivalents. Then we have the salary-wage envelope, but to answer your question, in short, we have approximately 2,750 full-time equivalents in the department, representing that amount of salary that has been approved. I would add that salary accounts for 76% of our entire operating budget.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON

What would that be on a year-to-year basis? Last year, five years...? Can you give me a sense of how that's growing?

12:35 p.m.

RAdm Elizabeth Stuart

Well, with approved Treasury Board submissions, we have had increases in staff, most notably on the front lines, as we've been discussing. I think the important thing to note in Veterans Affairs Canada is that just under 94% of the entire allocation is spent on benefits and services that go directly to veterans and their families. The remainder is the operating budget. Included in that is a special purpose allotment called “other health purchase services”. That pays for a number of things such as dental implants, treatments for veterans, and all kinds of things. Then there is a small portion that is about a $270 million baseline, of which 76% is for personnel, and the remainder is for operating.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis

Mr. Eyolfson, you have six minutes.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB

Thank you all for coming again.

From what I understand—and again, there may be some repetition, given how many questions have been asked over the last couple of hours—Veterans Affairs anticipates that approximately 500 people will receive the caregiver recognition benefit in 2018-19, with a total expenditure of approximately $6.5 million.

Is it anticipated that the number of people receiving this benefit will remain stable? Is there any expectation whether this will increase or decrease?

12:35 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery, Department of Veterans Affairs

Michel Doiron

We believe it's going to be pretty stable. There's always some fluctuation, but it will remain relatively stable.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB

Okay. Thank you.

Is this $1,000 per month for the caregivers indexed to the income of the caregiver?

12:35 p.m.

RAdm Elizabeth Stuart

It indexed to the CPI.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB

All right. Thank you.

Now, with regard to the level of impairment, when a caregiver is caring for a veteran, does the veteran have to be totally and/or permanently incapacitated, or can there be various levels of disability of the veteran for which the caregiver will receive this benefit?

12:35 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery, Department of Veterans Affairs

Michel Doiron

Yes. I'll be a little bit technical on this one.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB

Sure.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

That's good. We like that.

12:35 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery, Department of Veterans Affairs

Michel Doiron

Yes.

When we do the caregiver benefit, we use the instrument of activities of daily living. Can the veteran wash? Can the veteran dress? We're talking about critically injured veterans. If they have a hard time dressing or if they have a hard time brushing their teeth—these are examples used—it's more complex than that, but those are part of the criteria to determine whether a veteran is eligible for the caregiver relief benefit.

That's the item we use to determine that. It's on our website, if you want to see all the stuff. It's actually very well indicated. The activities of daily living is the basis of determination.

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB

Okay. Thank you.

12:35 p.m.

RAdm Elizabeth Stuart

May I make a correction? You asked the question about the caregiver recognition benefit. It's a tax-free benefit of $1,000 a month, which goes directly to the caregiver, and is indexed annually to keep pace with inflation. My apologies—

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB

For inflation.

12:40 p.m.

RAdm Elizabeth Stuart

—not consumer price index.

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB

Okay. Thank you.

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

Which one is better for the individual?

12:40 p.m.

Voices

Oh, oh!

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB

All right. Thank you.

When we did our study on transition, we heard of the importance of peer support and whether the veterans have positive experiences with the OSISS. Are you able to expand on any other initiatives that will be supported through Veterans Affairs?

12:40 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery, Department of Veterans Affairs

Michel Doiron

Yes. We are working very closely with the Canadian Armed Forces. I believe General Misener was here presenting on some of the initiatives. My team is working hand in hand with them to add more people right on the front line—JPSUs or whatever the new terminology may be—when they're all finished the review, to help people during transition and to actually be in the trenches with our colleagues of the Canadian Armed Forces. Actually, as the result of a report from this committee, we now have authority to work, as I call it, upstream. Before, we could only start working with the veteran when they became a veteran. Now, we can actually start working with them when they're in—

There is a whole series of programs—and I won't get into those details—like military family resource centres, where we've added resources, which will help in the career transition program that people are taking now. They are all things to help and additional programs help them. We're really focusing and now, we're talking to government about these new programs. We're working hand in hand with the Canadian Armed Forces, during transition to make sure there's no duplication, that we work closely together, but that we try to address the people falling through the cracks.

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB

All right. Thank you very much.

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis

We'll have an awkward pause and then we'll go to Mr. Kitchen for six minutes.

12:40 p.m.

Conservative

Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

Hopefully some of these questions will be answered fairly quickly, as I have a number to ask.

Can you tell us how many caregivers, under the old benefit, haven't yet applied for the new caregiver benefit?