I just want to refer to the first minister of Veterans Affairs, Ian Mackenzie, who said very clearly in World War II, in much anticipation that there would be need to help these people transition, that if we have the money to fight a war, we'd darn well better have money to help them in peace. The central factor seems to be that there's not enough money.
Veterans Affairs workers, if you meet them on an individual level, are wonderful, aren't they? Most of the ones I've met have been very co-operative. They are so overwhelmed with Treasury Board requirements to fill out forms. ADMs are overwhelmed with the requirements of the Treasury Board. Really, it goes down to the money. If they don't have the money to do the job, they keep getting blamed for failing to do the job, when the blame really comes to Parliament.
Parliament has to authorize the money so that it can have people go out and educate. I can tell you that in World War II, the workers worked overtime and on weekends. They went out to the fields to help people with their new farms. They hung up their coats and helped them hammer the new house they were building under the transition benefits that should have been afforded to our active service veterans after World War II. They went out of their way to teach family members about what they were going to deal with. They went out of their way to teach the public about what the sacrifices were.
I provided you guys that table of statistics because it's so important. That's the education that has to get out there.
What is the cost of war? Let's involve people in debate.
As you guys will know from the report, in 1950, we were all placed on active service, and we've been on active service ever since, but denied the benefits of active service during the transition. From that standpoint and that point of history on, we should have been making it very clear about and involving the public in a debate on each and every mission we sent people on. We should have been making sure that the money was there, not just for the Leopard tanks and the shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, but for the workers to be there to coach us, help us and inform us of our benefits while we were still there.
You guys also worked on a culture change in the military. Some of you members sat on that committee. How much do you think we're an organization that stigmatizes anyone who isn't masculine and white? How much do you think that organization is going to accept someone who's broken and cannot do the job? That is the ultimate discrimination.
I cannot tell you how even someone with a sore ankle was immediately ostracized. To admit that you're weak and that you need Veterans Affairs benefits...there isn't a safe environment in the military to learn about it. We have to create a safe environment where they can absorb that information and be encouraged to apply for benefits.