Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 12th, 2020

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

Okay, so I'm putting on notice the motion, Mr. Chair, just so that you're aware. The clerk does have it in both official languages, and, if you like, I can read into the record what the motion states.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Let's move forward with this. As I said, it's improper to move a motion, and I suspect.... I'm just getting word that you can put it on notice, but can you just indulge me to go through this procedure? After that you will, I suspect, have time in the coming hours here today to discuss this. That would be the normal process for this.

Okay?

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

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

While I have you there, sir, I know I reached out to IT. Did they touch base with you about the issue with muting on your end?

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

They did, Mr. Chair. To be frank, I get a little animated with my hands, and it could have occurred—and I apologize to the chair for this—that I touched the wrong button or the right button, for that matter.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Listen, we're all living in a very bizarre world right now, so I accept your apology. It wasn't necessary, but thank you.

Pursuant to Standing Order 81(4), the committee will now dispose of the main estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021 minus the interim supply of the House agreed to on March 13 and June 17, 2020.

Do I have unanimous consent to dispose of the credits in one motion?

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

On division.

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

On division.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Excellent.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$1,158,864,928

Vote 5—Grants and contributions..........$4,044,621,627

(Votes 1 and 5 agreed to on division)

VETERANS REVIEW AND APPEAL BOARD

Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$9,660,535

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

Shall I report the votes to the House, minus the amounts voted in interim supply on March 13 and June 17, 2021?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

Now for the supplementary estimates (B), pursuant to Standing Order 81(5), the committee will dispose of the supplementary estimates (B) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021.

Do I have unanimous consent to deal with the votes in one motion?

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

On division.

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

On division.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Excellent.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$17,759,213

Vote 5b—Grants and contributions..........$1

(Votes 1b and 5b agreed to on division)

Shall I report the votes to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Excellent. Thank you very much, everybody.

I'd like to say a big thank you, Minister MacAulay and General Natynczyk and your team, for being patient with us and coming back, given the technical issues we had at the last meeting. I thank you all for your participation today.

We are going to suspend briefly to allow the minister to move on with his day and to bring in the witnesses for our next session on the backlog.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

I call this meeting back to order.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on October 27, the committee is resuming its study on the backlog of disability benefit claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

We welcome all of the witnesses who have taken the time to join us during Remembrance Week. I will list the witnesses and then go over a few procedural notes and we will get started right away on testimony.

Appearing as individuals, we have both Charles Scott and Gary Walbourne, former ombudsman of the Department of National Defence. Representing the National Federation of Retirees, we have Simon Coakely, chief executive officer. Representing the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, we have Yves Giroux, Parliamentary Budget Officer. From the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, we have Doreen Weatherbie, president (members); and Paul Hartigan, manager, Atlantic region.

Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to be here to help us with this study.

Each of the organizations will have five minutes for opening remarks, after which we will proceed with rounds of questions.

I will signal when there is only one minute remaining, so just keep an eye on me on your screen. Keep in mind that a minute is actually a long time, so you don't have to panic if you have a lot left to say. When the time has elapsed, both for opening remarks and during questions, I will hold up the hand, doing my best to allow folks to finish their thoughts.

First we have Mr. Walbourne, but I don't see him up yet—

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

Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Mr. Brassard.

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

My hand is raised, Mr. Chair. Before the previous part of the meeting ended, I mentioned that I'd like to put forward a motion. The clerk does have the motion in both official languages. I'm not sure whether it's been distributed, but I do seek clarification as to whether we can put a motion on the floor and vote on it today.

You mentioned that 48 hours' notice was required. My intention is to put the motion on the floor and to have a vote on it based on the testimony of the previous witnesses we had at committee. I'm asking for some indulgence by the new witnesses, but I would like to deal with that if we can.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

I understand that you're able to put the motion on notice. It will completely depend on the topic of the motion. If it's relevant to what we're talking about today, then, yes, you could move it. Otherwise you would need unanimous consent to move it without the notice.

Again, the clerk has it, and I'm seeing it just now, but I don't know that anybody else has seen it yet, hence the need for that time.

Can you confirm that it's about the backlog?

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

I can confirm that 100%, Mr. Chair, but I would seek clarification from the clerk on the need to have unanimous consent to move a motion that is germane to what we're discussing today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

I invite the clerk to speak, to clarify the procedural side of this, for sure, if she wishes.

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

Thank you.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Jolène Savoie-Day]

Thank you, Mr. Brassard.

You do need 48 hours' notice, but if you are putting the motion on notice, you may do that. If you want to move the motion without having given the 48 hours' notice, then you would need the unanimous consent of the committee.