Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 25th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 23 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Pursuant to the motion adopted on September 18, 2025, the committee is meeting as part of its study on barriers to entrepreneurship among veterans.

Today's meeting is taking place in hybrid format, pursuant to the House of Commons Standing Orders. Members can participate in person or remotely using the Zoom application.

Before we continue, I would ask that all in-person participants consult the guidelines written on the cards on the table. These measures are in place to help prevent audio feedback incidents and to protect the health and safety of all participants, including the interpreters. You will also notice a QR code on the card, which links to a short awareness video.

I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses and our members. Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mic, and please mute yourself when you are not speaking. For those on Zoom, at the bottom of your screen, you can choose the appropriate channel for interpretation: floor, English or French. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and select the desired channel.

This is a reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

For members participating in person, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. I don't think there are any members participating via Zoom.

I would now like to welcome our witnesses for the first hour.

We have, as an individual, Mr. Bryan Brulotte.

From the Honour House Society, by video conference, we have Mr. Richard Coleman, director. From Veterans Elite Drone Training Services Inc., we have Mr. Greg Merrill, remotely piloted aircraft system instructor and flight reviewer, also by video conference.

I want to thank you for joining us today.

You will each have five minutes to give your opening remarks, and then we will proceed to a series of questions with the members of the committee.

I invite Mr. Brulotte to go first. You have the floor for five minutes.

[Bryan Brulotte, As an Individual]

Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. It's a privilege to be invited as a witness on an issue that matters deeply to me, both professionally and personally, which is how Canada can better support veterans who wish to become entrepreneurs.

I will make my remarks in English, but I will be very happy to answer questions in the language of Molière or Shakespeare.

By way of background, I'm a former infantry officer of the Canadian Army, having served both in the regular army and in the primary reserve for over 42 years. My military service shaped my leadership style, my tolerance for risk and my understanding of responsibility and mission focus. Like many veterans, I transitioned from a highly structured institution into civilian life, where those attributes were valuable but were not always translated or recognized.

Academically, I'm a graduate of the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean. I pursued postgraduate studies that emphasized leadership, organizational management and execution under pressure. That included an M.B.A. and a doctorate in business.

Professionally, after leaving full-time military service and concurrent to my service in the army reserve, I went on to build and lead one of Canada's largest staffing and workforce solution firms. At its peak, my company, MaxSyS, employed approximately 3,000 employees and generated close to $100 million in annualized revenue across 14 offices from Vancouver to Halifax. I was the sole owner. MaxSyS operated nationally across Canada, and it served clients in highly regulated environments in the public and private sectors.

I share this not as a personal résumé exercise, but to establish that, over 30 years in business, I've lived the full arc of what many veterans aspire to do: transition, entrepreneurship, growth and scale. I've seen where the system works and, more importantly, where it does not.

Based on that experience, I'd like to offer four concrete recommendations to the committee.

The first is structured, transition-oriented business training. Veterans possess many of the raw attributes required for entrepreneurship: discipline, resilience, decision-making under uncertainty, and leadership. What they often lack is targeted business literacy at the moment of transition—not generic entrepreneurship seminars, but practical, applied training focused on fundamentals such as cash flow management, corporate structuring, regulatory compliance, procurement and risk management. This training should be offered ideally before release, and it should recognize prior military leadership experience, rather than treating veterans as novice professionals starting from zero.

My second recommendation is for formalized networking and peer-based support ecosystems. Entrepreneurship is not an individual sport. Access to trusted networks is often the single greatest predictor of success. Veterans benefit enormously from peer communities that understand both military culture and commercial reality. Governments can play a catalytic role by supporting veteran-led business networks, mentorship programs and peer advisory groups, and by connecting new entrepreneurs with experienced operators, investors and professional service providers. The goal is not dependency; it's accelerated learning and reduced isolation.

The third recommendation is regarding procurement access and early customer validation. One of the hardest challenges for any new business is securing its first credible customer. Veterans are often well suited to government contracting environments, yet they find procurement systems opaque and inaccessible. Targeted procurement pathways, pilot programs or set-asides that allow veteran-owned businesses to compete fairly and transparently can provide validation without compromising value for money or competition principles.

The fourth and last recommendation, most critically, is about access to growth and scale capital. This final point is not unique to veterans, but it's essential that the committee hear it. Canada has a systemic problem when it comes to scaling successful mid-sized companies internationally. My ambition was to scale MaxSyS internationally. In my own case, despite having thousands of employees, strong revenues and a proven operating model, I found it extraordinarily difficult to secure financing to expand overseas. Domestic banks were conservative, and export-oriented capital was limited. Growth capital for companies beyond start-up but below the multinational scale was simply not available in a meaningful way. This is why I sold MaxSyS, in August 2024, for $20 million.

For veteran entrepreneurs who succeed domestically, this becomes a ceiling. We encourage ambition, but we do not provide the financial infrastructure to support it. If Canada is serious about building globally competitive companies, including those founded by veterans, then access to scale capital must be addressed as a policy issue.

Thank you for your time, and I welcome your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much, Mr. Brulotte. I also want to thank you for your service to the country.

I will now invite, from Veterans Elite Drone Training Services Inc., Mr. Greg Merrill, remotely piloted aircraft system instructor and flight reviewer, to speak for five minutes, please.

[Greg Merrill, Remotely Piloted Aircraft System Instructor and Flight Reviewer, Veterans Elite Drone Training Services Inc.]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm a retired air force officer and aerospace engineer. I spent 27 years in the regular force and some time after that in the supplementary reserves. Following my time in the regular force, I transitioned to industry, where I worked in the nuclear industry for several years, later on forming businesses of my own.

My reason for being here today is regarding the ever-expanding world of drones—the industry itself, its applicability to veterans and the training opportunities that VEdTS offers. VEdTS was formed about three years ago to offer training to vets that could be accessed, or at least would have funding access, through the funding programs for both the short course and the formal program funding.

In March 2023, VAC made an unexplained policy change to allow only short course funding to apply to drone training. Drones are also known as RPAS, which is remotely piloted aircraft system. We'll continue to use the name “drone” just for simplicity here.

That began to limit the availability of the expansion of qualifications for veterans undertaking drone training, because the certifications required through Transport Canada require, in some cases, formal training. That can burn up the $5,000 pot that's available through short course funding in a very short period of time.

Some of the industries that drones are used in now.... We see them in cinematography. People see drone shows at various public events. What they don't see are areas such photogrammetry, where 2-D images are taken from the air to form 3-D images. These are used in geophysical surveys, water resource management, agriculture and accident site reconstruction. Thermal imaging is used by law enforcement and also search and rescue to detect, in this case, the temperature differential of a warm body or live body—pardon the term—out where someone could be lost and the forces that be are trying to locate them. That can be done remotely from several miles away by a single operator.

Veterans are ideally suited for this vocation, for some of the reasons our previous witness mentioned. They're focused. They have a nature of ingrained self-discipline. They spent a career where training is prevalent throughout. As an instructor, I've even had experience with students diagnosed with PTSD who have found the focus and skill set development of drone operations to be very therapeutic.

VEdTS has a bona fide, Transport Canada-approved RPAS training facility. It has trained over 350 veterans to date and employs over 50 instructors, including myself, across Canada. A good portion of those individuals have gone on to form their own businesses. However, the training in the advanced areas that I was mentioning puts a ceiling on their ability to undergo that and to be employable.

The final summation comment I can make is that these are not toys. They're highly complex devices that require extensive training to be utilized. The potential is growing all the time. The surface is only being scratched.

Our objective is to have the approved eligibility list for the education and training benefit under the formal training program funding for drone-related training.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much, Mr. Merrill. Thank you for your service, sir.

We will now pass the floor to Mr. Coleman.

I understand, Mr. Coleman, that we had some technical difficulty with your sound. Before you start, could you just tell us a little bit about the weather? We'll make sure that everybody is okay here.

[Richard Coleman, Director, Honour House Society]

Absolutely.

The weather in the Vancouver area right now is about 14°C. There was sun this morning. It's a bit cloudy this afternoon and quite pleasant.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

I will not ask you to repeat the weather, because I got some very negative outbursts of comments in this room. Apparently I'm being blamed. I don't want to take that responsibility.

We still have a bit of a problem. Let's try again. Could you say a few extra words so we can hear you better?

[Richard Coleman]

I am presently in a building called Honour House in New Westminster, British Columbia, which has given 19,000 free bed nights to veterans, service people and first responders coming to Vancouver to get treatment for PTSD, any medical appointment or anything their family needs. It is a very beautiful home, and it is a place of safety and security for those folks coming to Vancouver.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Coleman, I'll invite you to start. We may have to interrupt you if we are not getting proper translation during your speech. I have to apologize in advance, sir, if that happens. I may regretfully interrupt your speech with us this afternoon.

You can start. Take your time, sir.

[Richard Coleman]

My name is Rich Coleman. I am a businessman. I was in the naval reserves in my youth, and the RCMP after that. I started a number of successful businesses. I went into public life in 1996 for 24 and a half years. I am the former deputy premier of the Province of British Columbia. One of my passions is helping young people get into business or helping them—for free—turn their businesses around.

The traits of a business leader are very important. Ironically, they align very much with Canadian Armed Forces training. Many business owners fail to succeed because they don't have the discipline or the organization. I have worked with armed forces members to help start businesses for them. They come with something you don't even find in a regular employment environment. From their training as members of the armed forces, they come with teamwork and personal responsibility. They can show up on time. They know operation and management of equipment. They understand inventory control from their very first day, simply because they are responsible for their personal kit. They have mental health and fitness.

With these basics, members of the forces need to transition to additional skills as they come out of the forces in order to be successful in business. This is where the armed forces could step up by giving them an understanding of financial reporting: the revenue and expense portions of running a business. There's no training or education that I'm aware of that helps those young men and women coming out of the forces do that. That would be one of my recommendations.

The second thing is that they need knowledge of the opportunities that are in front of them. This is not just for members of the armed forces. Young people looking to go into business tend to think there are only traditional businesses out there for them to get into and be successful at. In my experience—having worked with armed forces members who have gone into business—they are adaptable and can learn about different opportunities within the business environment.

To achieve the ability to seek out a successful business in Canada, you need to create an environment for success for these people as they come out of the armed forces. Business is no easy road. There are a number of stressors that come with owning and operating a business, and starting on your own is a daunting task.

Members need a number of things. First of all, they need to sit down with somebody to build a business plan so they can articulate their market, their objectives for building revenue and, in turn, how they can deliver on those objectives to somebody who might want to invest in their business.

One of the previous speakers brought up the issue of capital, which is obviously a requirement and also a hindrance for people getting into business today. What I have found is that the best thing to do with people with discipline, organization and a business plan is to sit them down with private investors who will look at things and be prepared to take a risk on an opportunity with somebody new. It's part of their mandate, as business owners, to go out and help these people.

Mentorship is very critical to starting a business. I've mentored a number of businesspeople over the years. The beauty of mentorship tied to a member is that they have the opportunity to sit down, talk about their frustrations, and talk about what's working and what's not working with somebody who has experience with mentorship. I think you will find that if you put a mentorship program in the Canadian Armed Forces, in co-operation with Canadian businesses, you will have a number of businesspeople who'd be happy to give them their time—to sit down and help them work through their business plans in order to be successful.

The accessible ear of an expert is an invaluable asset for a new business owner. The Canadian Armed Forces should think about having a mentorship program, if they don't already, in order to coach those who are looking to enter business. Currently, to achieve that relationship, I think you will find—I know this from my own colleagues in business, over the years—that they're really quite happy to sit down and help young businesspeople if asked to. Members of the armed forces.... Given how much people believe those who serve our country should have a hand, I believe they would step up.

The other thing the armed forces should consider is having a relationship with the major franchise opportunities in Canada. Have an agreement with them to look at our people to see whether they'd be good as franchise owners, because franchise owners are more successful in business, by percentage, than those just starting out on their own. That's because they come with the discipline and management that's required. The people coming from the armed forces have those skills as well.

I have direct experience with a young man in business who served in Afghanistan. I think the biggest thing for him and others I've dealt with is that they need to have a sounding board. It's not just about the mentorship. They really need to be able to pick up the phone and talk to someone. You'd be surprised how their stressors will come into play and they just need to talk to somebody. Sometimes, the stress is not exactly because of the business, but they just need to talk through something that gets them to the issue for their business. You'll find that really affects their ability to handle the volatility of their operation. Because they've come from a business environment, when they get to focus back on the business, their success is much higher.

For those described persons, I would take a call many times as a listening ear. If you look at how you can help them in this way, as I described, I think you'll find we will have a lot of successful young business people coming out of the armed forces.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much, Mr. Coleman. We appreciate your comments.

Now we will start a round of questions. Each member will have six minutes for the first round.

We'll start with Mr. Tolmie for six minutes.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Thank you, witnesses, for your testimonies and your service, and for spending your time coming here today and sharing your insights with this committee.

We've been flipping back and forth recently between the PCVRS contract and this entrepreneurial study. Sometimes we feel like we're losing a bit of traction.

Something that was brought up in the last meeting was the U.S.'s vision or the way they treat their veterans in terms of social mobility. I want to touch on that with the witnesses here.

Here's what I'd like to start with. The United States treats military service as a foundation for social mobility. The GI bill, the boots to business program and the 3% federal contracting set-aside all reflect a deliberate policy choice that service should open economic doors, not close them. Veterans are seen as proven leaders, disciplined operators and credible entrepreneurs worthy of investment.

Mr. Brulotte, when you stated your four recommendations, you touched on this. In Canada, we're studying barriers to veteran entrepreneurship, while the $6.6-billion defence industrial strategy excludes the very people who served in the sector it's meant to build. What does that omission say about how Canada values military service as a pathway to economic opportunity?

[Bryan Brulotte]

I'm not sure I have a quick answer to that.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

I have six minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

You have four minutes.

[Bryan Brulotte]

I don't know if I have a long answer, either.

I think there is definitely value. I mentioned in recommendation number three that you can have opportunities for procurement access, very much as we have in set-asides or technical point systems. When you're looking at evaluating different bidders, you can use prior service as a technical criterion by which you can then increase or raise the value of a certain bid versus another one—as long as that's transparent and clear across the board. That will not only allow veterans to bid on projects, but also provide an incentive for other companies that perhaps have no veterans to bring veterans on board so they can bid on the contract. Very much like the aboriginal set-aside does, this would do the same.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Thank you. That's a very well-thought-out answer.

Mr. Merrill, I'm very intrigued by your testimony. I'll try to give you a short question, because I know you have a dry throat.

You're training veterans who then go on to found their own drone business services. They're opening up their own businesses. What is the single biggest non-skills barrier they face after completing training, and what would the federal government need to do to remove it?

[Greg Merrill]

In the industry, for drones, the training we offer currently gives them certification level to operate—I won't say, to operate as commercial operators, because there is actually no commercial rating. It is what's called an advanced level certificate that allows drones or RPAS to be operated in areas normally restricted for those who, for lack of a better explanation, are more recreational operators. It is the advanced training at that level that deals with some of the fields I was mentioning, like photogrammetry and videography. I'm not talking about regular recreational videography. It's manipulation of the data, but also the techniques used to acquire the appropriate data in drone operations.

There's a system called “lidar” that's coming into play. You've heard of radar, which stands for “radio detection and ranging”. Lidar is “light detection and ranging”, a similar system but light-based. It is used massively for inspections of windmills, volumetric assessments and structural bridge inspections. As an engineer, I could go on and give you a considerable number of examples.

The issue is that training in these areas is expensive, and it currently exceeds what is available through the VAC envelope under the short course program funding, which is a one-time maximum of $5,000. It was not always like that. In 2023, drone training was eligible under the formal program envelope. For veterans like me, that didn't mean they were going to hand out the money to you indiscriminately, but you would have access of up to $80,000, I believe, if you were a former career member of the forces. That was changed suddenly and arbitrarily without explanation. I don't know if you have a copy of the letter I wrote, but it said that, moving forward, all drone training would be funded only by short course funding. As I mentioned, that $5,000 pot gets burned up very quickly.

As I pointed out earlier, when you're trying to start a business, you look at the commercial side of things, like banks, supports.... I'm a former entrepreneur with a business as well. I know what the uphill battle is like in dealing with financial institutions to try to get funding when you have a bona fide business plan.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Mr. Merrill, unfortunately, I have to interrupt you. I apologize sincerely. I'm sure we can come back to that.

I apologize, sir.

[Greg Merrill]

That's okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

We will now have, for six minutes, Mrs. Hirtle.

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm going to continue with Mr. Merrill.

Thank you for being here today and for your service.

[Greg Merrill]

Thank you.

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

You were talking about the $5,000 short course training fund, and then there was an $80,000 one. Where would your training fall within that range of funds?

[Greg Merrill]

Several years ago, when I first applied to get my advanced certification as a drone operator, the training program itself cost $5,000. I submitted an application under short course funding, because that was the amount they had available for it. I had no idea that I might qualify for a formal course. Following that submission, VAC contacted me and said that I should really put that under formal course funding. Part of the concern was that I would be out of pocket, but they said that once you use that short course funding, it's gone and you can't have access to it anymore. That was the way that initial certification for me took place in 2022.

It was a year later, when I was putting in an application for more advanced training—that coursework was in the neighbourhood of $20,000—that VAC sat on it for several months and then came back with a decision saying, “No, we're not doing this anymore.” Since then, it has been limited for any veteran who wants to apply to that short course envelope.

To add to your question, conceivably, as this industry is currently expanding and these devices are becoming more complex—these are not toys that are being funded; they have many applications inside and outside of the regular business world, as the world has seen—that training cost will tend to increase because of the training level the instructors have to acquire before they can take it on. I don't think it would ever burn up the entire envelope of $80,000, but it could certainly use a good portion of it.