Veterans Affairs Committee on Dec. 2nd, 2025

[Christine McDowell]

For those specifics, I'll turn to Mitch Freeman, who can talk about the cost and the metrics.

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

Perhaps, while you answer, just in case there isn't enough time, could you tell me exactly, or at least give me some kind of an idea, how many veterans have found jobs through the employment strategy and how many veterans have found housing through the homelessness strategy?

[Mitch Freeman]

I will speak quickly.

I can speak only to the homeless. My colleague, Steven Harris, could speak to the employment numbers.

The homelessness program is approximately $79.1 million over the life course of that particular project. It has, since its inception through to March 2025, assisted over 1,400 veterans and helped find secure housing for 233.

[Steven Harris]

I would say the cost of the national veterans employment strategy is internal costs: FTE costs, employee costs in terms of developing the strategy, consultations and things of that nature. About seven or eight FTEs are involved in developing the strategy.

Regarding the output from it, there's lots of employer engagement. There's lots of help for veterans to find jobs who work through our career transition services—2,100 a year—and we've had engagement with 7,000 participants through webinars that help to find employment and direct interviews with individuals.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank—

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

Sorry, but can he give us an idea if we know how many have actually gotten jobs? We didn't get the answer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much Mr. Harris. I really appreciate it.

I apologize again.

Next is Mr. Casey for five minutes.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Deputy McDowell, the new money in the budget was $184.9 million with $40.1 million ongoing. Can you or someone on your team provide a breakdown of those funds?

[Christine McDowell]

Absolutely. Perhaps I'll turn to Steven to talk about how the $184.9 million will be used for the stabilization of our service delivery network.

[Steven Harris]

The breakdown of the $184 million would be $40 million on an annual basis in place for employment, essentially stabilizing, on a permanent basis, staff who work directly in disability benefit adjudication and related areas. That's $40 million on an annual basis and ongoing.

The rest of the money above the $160 million that would account for is related to service modernization. We had a couple of answers earlier in this session that talked about what service modernization is: improvements to internal IT systems, improvements to processes and other things that will help us serve veterans in a much better way by offering more rapid and efficient service and providing them with the ability to get the services as quickly as possible as well.

That is innovation from an automation point of view, helping to make things move automatically in the department to allow for faster decision-making and easier access to benefits and services for veterans. These things will be implemented over the course of the next two fiscal years. That starts April 1 next year, pending overall approval and review, and that will immediately help to assist veterans in accessing services in a simpler way.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

All right. My next question is about how you measure client satisfaction. We have had a steady parade of witnesses come before the committee, invited by the Conservatives, who have told us some pretty horrific things about their treatment and the impact of the treatment that they have had or are perceived to have had from Veterans Affairs.

I want to know if this is a representative sample of the clients you serve. Tell us how you measure the satisfaction of the people who call in to receive services, and tell us what information comes out of those measurement mechanisms.

[Christine McDowell]

Feedback from veterans is absolutely crucial to what we do. It's crucial to any service department. We're taking that feedback on board, even if it's anecdotal.

We also have a number of systematic ways of collecting that feedback, including a national veteran survey that is carried out. We seek feedback, as I mentioned, from advisory groups as well. We also carry out, as I mentioned, surveys. We engage directly with under-represented groups and take their feedback on board. That feedback is collected, and it shapes the way we deliver services and the way we provide the benefits that we offer.

I'll turn to Mitch.

Perhaps you can talk about some of the national client surveys that we carry out.

[Mitch Freeman]

Certainly. Thanks so much for the question. I certainly offer to my colleague to add any particular items.

There is a national client survey that's completed every two years. It goes out to a subset of Veterans Affairs clients who are statistically relevant to create the same sample group.

I don't have the exact numbers. I suspect that ADM Harris does with respect to overall satisfaction, but the process is such that a statistically relevant sample is out, and veterans respond to that survey every two years.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Were there any district offices closed in this budget?

[Christine McDowell]

There were not.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much, Mr. Casey.

On this note, I will complete our time, and I would like to say thank you very much to our witnesses.

I will ask to suspend very briefly, so we can say proper goodbyes to all of you.

Certainly, on our behalf, we would like to say thanks, merry Christmas, happy holidays and the very best happy new year to all of you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

We have a few important parts of this committee to entertain. Thank you very much to all of you.

I have questions to ask this committee.

Does the committee wish to vote on the supplementary estimates now?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

There are two votes in the supplementary estimates (B) for 2025-26.

Unless anyone objects, I will seek the unanimous consent of the committee to group the votes together for a decision. Is there unanimous consent to proceed this way?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[An hon. member]

On division.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

That's carried on division.

Shall both votes referred to the committee in the supplementary estimates (B) 2025-26 carry?

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$12,309,816

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

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

Shall I report the votes back to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

Before I seek a motion to adjourn, I would like to ask if the committee is willing to adopt a budget. I think, because of the last meetings, that we did not adopt the budget for the study on the supplementary estimates (B) that just took place. The budget was shared with all of you by the clerk on Thursday, November 27. It was a small amount, but I have to have this adopted.

Is it the will of the committee to adopt the budget?