Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 12th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Good morning, everyone. We know we have a limited time with the minister, so I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number four of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Pursuant to the motion adopted on October 27, and Standing Orders 81(4) and 81(5), the committee is undertaking the study of the main estimates and supplementary estimates (B) 2020-21.

We are very pleased to welcome back to committee the Minister of Veterans Affairs and department officials.

I want to be very respectful of the limited time we have, so I want to welcome the minister and invite him to make his opening remarks.

Minister MacAulay, the floor is yours.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, members of the committee. It’s an honour to be here and that everything works today. The last time we sat down and had a meeting, a few days later we were all sent home. I want to thank you all for the work you’ve done over the past few months advocating for veterans and their families.

Mr. Chair, Remembrance Day was yesterday, so I think it's fitting I'm here today talking about how much our veterans mean to us, at a time when we honour those who have served Canada in times of war, military conflict and peace.

Let me first say that over the past eight months, my department has been working to make sure veterans and their families keep receiving the benefits and services they deserve. I have personally spoken with them about how they’re experiencing the pandemic and the supports the department can provide. My message has been that we’re here for them and will always be here for them. The employees of Veterans Affairs Canada have come through in delivering services and financial benefits to veterans and their families while working from home. Veterans are a priority for our government. You’ve heard me say that every time I’ve sat here. That’s because I use every chance I get to make sure that past and present members of Canada’s military know how grateful we are for their service and their sacrifice.

Our government is taking action to make sure Canada’s veterans are well served and well supported. The 2020-21 main estimates and supplementary estimates are an example of that. The $5.4 billion in these estimates represents a 19% increase over the main estimates from last year. That is approximately $800 million more that we’re putting directly into the pockets and well-being of our veterans. It’s money for educational opportunities and career transition services, tax-free benefits for caregivers and services for families. It’s money that will make a big difference in the lives of our veterans and their families. For this reason, we have to do better on service delivery. The backlog is unacceptable. That’s why I made it my top priority when I became Minister of Veterans Affairs and I directed the department to make it its top priority as well. This past June, we introduced a strategy to reduce wait times for veterans. This includes overhauling how teams are organized, making better use of technology and reducing the time it takes to make decisions.

In June, we announced a nearly $200-million investment to address the backlog. This means keeping the 168 adjudicators hired through budget 2018 and hiring an additional 350 employees dedicated to further reducing wait times. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report, these new hires will have a significant impact on reducing the backlog.

The decision-making process on benefits and programs has been streamlined so less complex cases can move through the system faster, allowing more time to tackle very complex, multi-condition types of claims. It is our top priority and we will not stop until the backlog is under control.

It’s also worth pointing out that earlier this week our government announced $20 million for a veterans organizations emergency support fund. The fund will provide organizations with the resources they need to keep operating and supporting the veterans community as we deal with the ongoing effects of the COVID–19 pandemic.

We’re forever grateful to each and every one of our veterans for their service and sacrifice and will continue to do everything we can to make sure proper support is available to them.

With that, Mr. Chair, I’m pleased to answer any questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much, Minister.

I will backtrack a little bit here and also welcome General Walter Natynczyk, deputy minister, who is on the call. Also joining us today are Charlotte Bastien, assistant deputy minister, strategic oversight and communications; Rick Christopher, assistant deputy minister, strategic policy and commemoration; Steve Harris, assistant deputy minister, service delivery; and Sara Lantz, acting assistant deputy minister, chief financial officer and corporate services branch.

Thank you, all, for joining us here today and helping us through this process.

First up, for six minutes, we have MP Brassard. The floor is yours, sir.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Minister. I'll get right to it. Minister, do you know when a budget is going to be tabled by the finance minister in Parliament?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

No, Mr. Chair. That information has not been made available yet.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Minister, you realize it's been 19 months since a federal budget was tabled in Parliament. Is that correct?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

You're right, John; it has been 19 months.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Okay.

Let's talk about the backlog, which is the elephant in the room.

Minister, you mentioned in your opening statement that this was a number one priority when you became the minister a year ago, yet in your time as minister we've seen the backlog grow to almost 50,000 cases now.

I hope, Minister, that you can appreciate just how dire this situation is for veterans and their families who are well beyond the service standard set out by VAC, and who are in fact, in many cases, waiting two years to have those benefits adjudicated and processed.

Minister, there has to be a better way to do this. What are you doing to correct it?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you very much, John. I appreciate your question, but the backlog itself is under 20,000. Of course applications come in every day, and I believe that's what you are referring to. There are some 40,000 applications already in the department waiting to be adjudicated.

Of course the backlog is totally unacceptable, and my honourable colleague is well aware that the number of first-time applications has increased by 90-some per cent, so of course that increases the job for our adjudicators.

We, and I, have indicated quite clearly that the backlog is my number one priority, and we will deal with the backlog.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Minister, we know the backlog is the number one priority, but that backlog keeps increasing.

As we've gone through this COVID-19 crisis, we've seen government move at the speed of light when it comes to processing claims for the emergency response benefit, for example. Eight million Canadians received those benefits simply by clicking on “send”, to the tune of $82 billion. We've seen the student benefit, from which 1.1 million students ranging in age from 18 to 22 have received $5.9 billion in benefits. I simply can't explain—and I've tried—to veterans who have asked me how that can happen and yet there are 50,000 backlogged claims and we can't get veterans and their families the money they need.

Minister, this is a dire situation, so if the government can move at the speed of light for this, then why is it not moving at the speed of light for Canada's veterans and their families?

I don't understand why I was just muted, Mr. Chair, but I want to....

Why not increase the eligibility criteria? Why not presume that many of these injuries are attributable to service, and process these claims more quickly? It would free you up from any additional layers of bureaucracy, Minister.

Veterans, right now, are having a difficult time getting doctors' notes because of this crisis, Minister. There have been solutions presented to Veterans Affairs and yet many of those solutions are not being implemented; in fact, those solutions are resulting in court cases against Veterans Affairs because the veterans are not receiving their benefits in a timely manner. There are options, Minister. Please look at them.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you, John. I appreciate your question and I know you wouldn't want to mislead.

The backlog is under 20,000, and of course, we have taken many measures to deal with this situation, including, when we took over government, hiring 1,000 people who were displaced by a previous government. Also in the last supplementary estimates, we—

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Please stop muting me. Somebody is muting me. I don't know who it is, Chair—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Excuse me, Mr. Brassard. Nobody is muting you. I haven't seen—

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

My mute button is going off.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

On our side we're not seeing that at all, and we can hear you just fine.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Okay. I have a question with respect to that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

You have a very small window in which to ask that question.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Minister, how many additional staff were hired to implement the CERB program and the student benefit program?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

John, you know that's not under the Department of Veterans Affairs program.

The fact is that what we are doing in Veterans Affairs is making sure that we attend to the veterans to make sure they receive their benefits, which they deserve, as quickly as possible. That's why we are going to address the close to 20,000 backlog that is in place. We have put a system in place by coordinating the staff, digitizing the applications and also hiring 350—

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

You're layering the bureaucracy. You're making it much more difficult for veterans to get their benefits.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

John, you have to let me answer the question.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Minister, this is an important issue.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Do you want me to tell you what we're doing?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Excuse me—

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

It isn't working.