Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 19th, 2023

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Is there a strategy to get more?

[Paul Ledwell]

We want to increase that.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Like I said, they would have the skills in the department. You could actually have them trained, almost, before they came to you, depending on what part of the military they're working in. Is that right?

[Paul Ledwell]

That's absolutely right. We want more of them employed at Veterans Affairs Canada, and, as the minister has indicated, right across the Government of Canada.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Is there no target? You haven't put a target.

[Paul Ledwell]

There's no target currently, but we're very open to establishing a target, absolutely.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

It's probably a good idea to have a target so you have something to go for.

There's just one other thing that I heard about. This is a lighter comment. I know that many people send Christmas cards, holiday cards—whatever—and have free postage. I have a letter from a resident in my riding here, Judith Armstrong, who wants to send some.

Every year the cost of stamps.... Inflation, as you know, is extremely high. Things, and the government, cost a lot. Why don't they have it so that you can send...? Sunnybrook in Ontario has fine examples of those who have served. Why can't they send those at cost, during those periods of time, to those individuals? If you send one, it's over a dollar. For her to do it, it's hundreds of dollars to send those to them, to bring light to them.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I'll take that back. That's all that I can say.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you so much.

Now I have Mr. Sean Casey for five minutes, please. He's on the screen.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

First off, I just want to clarify something that was mentioned in a previous answer. That is the transfer of the health plan that was overseen by the Treasury Board Secretariat. I believe that someone may have misspoken.

It's my understanding that the health plan was transferred from Sun Life to Canada Life. Could someone just confirm that is, in fact, the case?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

That's correct.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Great. Thank you.

We received some fantastic news over the weekend, Madam Minister. There is now new leadership at the head of the Union of Veterans' Affairs Employees. I would invite you, and if you wish, your colleagues on each side....

First of all, allow me to congratulate Toufic El-Daher on assuming the leadership of the national presidency of this union. Many of whose members are constituents of mine.

Perhaps you could comment on the opportunities that presents for labour management relations, a new era with new leadership. I would invite Mr. Ledwell or Mr. Harris to chime in as well. I know that they both have, I would say, more regular dealings with the union, but I would appreciate your comments on the opportunity that's presented by this new chapter, please.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Thank you, Sean. I'll be brief.

I had an opportunity this week to speak to the new union president. I again want to congratulate him on his election this past weekend.

I also want to take a moment to thank the outgoing president for all the work she has done. She certainly had a lot of issues that she had to deal with, with respect to negotiations and a strike this year as well. We certainly want to thank her for the leadership she has shown.

Again, I don't know the new union president, but I spoke to him briefly and I look forward to working with him.

Perhaps I'll turn it over to Paul and then to Steven if they have a few comments to make.

[Paul Ledwell]

Very quickly, Mr. Chair, I think it's important for us to interact in a respectful and a productive manner with all of our bargaining agents, including the UVAE. They are the largest representative bargaining unit on behalf of their members and our employees at Veterans Affairs Canada.

We have had very engaged interaction with that union. We've also dealt and worked closely with the new president. He was, for the last several years, the national vice-president of that same union, so we've been at tables together. We've collaborated. We'll continue to collaborate and look forward to a productive relationship with that union under his leadership.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you very much to both of you.

As you may be aware, prior to 2015, there were some deep and disproportionate cuts within the Department of Veterans Affairs that drastically affected service delivery, and certainly employee morale. I guess my question is this. It appears there has been a directive to look for savings. Much of the preoccupation of the employees during the Harper cuts was the continuation of the national headquarters in Charlottetown. That seemed to be a preoccupation with the union as well, until this latest change.

What comments can you offer with respect to the presence of the national headquarters in Charlottetown going forward?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Sean, I think we all know that it's really important to maintain the service level that we have, and the presence in Charlottetown is extremely important. We see that a lot of people from Charlottetown, from Prince Edward Island, are working at Veterans Affairs and have become very skilled at their jobs.

We also know that the morale, as you've indicated.... In years gone by, we saw that previous governments slashed the Veterans Affairs positions by 1,000, and we quickly rehired those individuals to make sure we could tackle the challenges that had caused. Losing 1,000 employees was very difficult for the morale. We've rehired them, and on top of that we've hired 350 additional case workers to address the backlog.

Keeping the office in Prince Edward Island is really important. We realize that people who work in Charlottetown, if they start working at Veterans Affairs, oftentimes will stay there for a long time during their career. Again, they're able to hone their skills and are able to provide good services, great services, to veterans.

Again, I want to be very clear. There is no talk at all of changing our national office. It's well established in Prince Edward Island, and there are no plans to change that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Casey.

This is the last round of questions. We will have four interventions—first from Mr. Richards, then from Mr. Miao, Luc Desilets and Ms. Rachel Blaney.

I'll start with Mr. Richards for five minutes.

Go ahead, please.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Thanks.

Minister, I think, of course, that when you're trying to accomplish something, it's important to have a sense of what your goals are—what things you're trying to accomplish. In your opening remarks, you mentioned a couple of things. I'll say they were somewhat vague, but they were things you are looking to try to accomplish. In response to some of the questioning, you talked a bit about wanting to see the backlog improved in terms of wait times, and you've had some chances to address that. You mentioned commemoration as something else that you'd like to see focused on. You mentioned that you have a list. I assume it's more than a list of two things that you'd like to see improved at Veterans Affairs. I'll put it that way.

Can you give us a sense of what some of those other things are on the list of what you'd like to see improved at Veterans Affairs, or of specific things you would like to accomplish during your time as minister—concrete measures you're looking to take, where there are problems?

Whether we agree or disagree on whether there are problems, there's no doubt that, when you have veterans on hunger strikes, or when you have veterans.... Some of the letters I get, and I'm sure you must get, from veterans indicate some pretty heartbreaking situations. You must be prepared to say that some things need to be fixed.

Tell us, what are some of those concrete things you want to fix?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Like you, Mr. Richards, yes, I hear those stories.

I've told my deputy minister that each week I want to receive a sample of the correspondence the department gets, as well. That's because I want to get a snapshot of exactly which matters are brought forward to us. They're not all good stories. There are some issues that need to be fixed.

To your specific question, and to finish my response, when we talk about the backlog, yes, that's a priority. Work is done, but under way.

When we talk about addressing the issue of equity-seeking groups.... Ms. Blaney asked about women veterans. We have to make sure that we address specific challenges when it comes to women veterans applying for benefits through Veterans Affairs Canada. When it comes to our indigenous communities, as well, we have many indigenous veterans who have served this country. They have not had access, or they did not know about the services they needed. We need to make sure we reach out—

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Minister, I am loath to interrupt, because I don't want to set off another round of concern about.... I guess what I'm trying to do is give you an opportunity. You obviously already had a chance to address these things during the meeting.

I want to get a sense of whether there's anything you haven't had a chance to address that you feel needs to be fixed at Veterans Affairs, because you mentioned some of these things already.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Again, you asked me specifically about my priorities, and I'm listing my priorities for you.

I think your colleague also asked—

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Can I ask this, then? Are there any priorities you have other than what you mentioned in your opening statement?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

With respect to the conversations I've had with many veterans across the country, the issue of long-term care has come up a lot. As I indicated, we have many veterans who are baby boomers at this time, and they are wondering about long-term care services. I think that's a conversation we need to have. What is that going to look like for veterans in five, 10 or 20 years? That, again, is an absolute priority we need to deal with.

The other thing is the veterans employment strategy. I am seized with that, as well—making sure that we can get our veterans employed. As I said, I don't want to see our veterans underemployed. I want to see them employed with skill sets and provide them with the best opportunities they can have.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

What are some of the concrete measures you intend to take in order to see employment among veterans increase?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Within the very near future, we'll be launching our employment strategy. That's with the help of the work this committee has done. I'm truly looking forward to receiving that report.

Again, working with the private sector—