Thank you.
Thanks, Allan, Tina and Sean.
I'm new to this committee. Thanks for allowing me to take the time today.
Tina, the good news is that I pulled the Auditor General's report on call centres, and it is a damning report. It says, “In addition”—including Veterans Affairs—“none of the call centres had [any] service standards on the likelihood that callers would reach an agent or on the accuracy of the information they would receive.” As well, there were absolutely no service standards. In 2019, there were 208,000 calls to Veterans Affairs, and 43,000 were hung up on or unanswered. That is supposed to be there to serve Canadians, and it's clearly not. That is according to the Auditor General's report.
It's frustrating to me as a new MP to have you here as witnesses—and I often wonder, as a new MP, what building all these reports go to because absolutely nothing happens. She's got to be chock full of reports and nothing happens.
Anyway, I'll get to my questions.
I had veterans reach out to me. Actually, I reached out to a couple of veterans. Just so you know, I have a Silver Cross mother who works for me. Her son, Brian Collier, was killed by an IED in Afghanistan in 2010; he made the ultimate sacrifice. I'll say this to Sean, Allan and Tina: We go through monthly—weekly, even—moments, her and I in the office, where there's a breakdown, and there are absolutely no services for her. I would ask one of you to talk about that because I know time is critical here.
I also have a question about how veterans who receive disability benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada are now able to earn up to $25,000 without its impacting their diminished earning capacity. However, veterans who receive disability benefits from Manulife are apparently not allowed to make anything. I'm looking at whether you have any input on that, because I have some veterans in York—Simcoe, my riding, who are very curious about that.
As well, if one of you could speak to.... Veterans are responsible for paying upfront costs for medication to treat injuries they received while in service. They're waiting over a year, I've been told, to be reimbursed, which is having implications on their health and their finances. To me, this is also shameful.
Unfortunately, I only have five minutes. I have many more questions, but I will start there.