Debates of May 29th, 2017

National Defence—Main Estimates, 2017-18

[Jean Rioux, Liberal, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Chair, our government believes that diversity is Canada's strength, and it has committed to have all departments consider this very important issue.

These principles affect all members of the Canadian Armed Forces, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning.

All senior leaders in the departments and in the Canadian Armed Forces are fully committed to promoting diversity and inclusion, as demonstrated by the fact that the chief of the defence staff published the Canadian Armed Forces diversity strategy, as well as his action plan and strategy, in January 2017.

The Canadian Armed Forces is always willing to increase diversity and promote the principles of inclusion among its members.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Mr. Chair, mental health is a key area in which great steps have been taken by the Canadian Armed Forces to improve access to mental health professionals and to destigmatize attitudes toward those suffering operational stress injuries. Can the parliamentary secretary inform the House on what the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces have done to improve mental health access in the past year, and what the plans are for the future?

[Jean Rioux, Liberal, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Chair, our government is determined to ensure that the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces continue to benefit from the best health care possible. The Canadian Armed Forces has greatly improved the support it gives to soldiers who suffer from mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, as a result of their participation in military operations.

As part of budget 2017, the government plans to invest $17.5 billion over four years, beginning in 2018-19, in a centre of excellence on post-traumatic stress disorder and related mental health conditions. The centre will place a strong emphasis on the prevention, assessment, and treatment of PTSD and related mental health conditions for soldiers and veterans.

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

Mr. Chair, I am going to be focusing on asking the minister some questions today. If I have enough time, there are roughly three areas I am going to be focusing on. The first one is the issue of transition. I know the parliamentary secretary brought that up. She talked about closing the seam.

Over the past, roughly, 14 years, there have been 10 reports that have made recommendations about transitioning. The defence ombudsman has issued a report on simplifying transition from the Canadian Forces to civilian life. Therefore, I would like to ask the minister if he has read the report from the defence ombudsman.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, closing the seam for our men and women is extremely important. I agree with the member. We have been working on this for a very long time. I have also spoken with the ombudsman about this from the early days, and the discussion also came out with our defence policy review consultation.

We are working very closely with the Minister of Veterans Affairs so that we do get this right. We are going to make sure that the transition to civilian life for our men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces is done in a manner so that their pension cheques are done before they are released, and making sure they have all they need from Veterans Affairs. We are working truly hard on that piece. We also need to make sure we get it right so that we can offer up the right type of support for the wonderful service they give to our country.

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

Mr. Chair, the question was whether the minister had read the report. The veterans ombudsman also issued a report last year on simplifying the transition from the Canadian Armed Forces to civilian life. I would like to ask the minister one more time if he has read not just the defence ombudsman's report but also the veterans ombudsman report.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, I get briefed on many of the reports. I also talk directly to the Minister of Veterans Affairs. When it comes to the transition, this is one aspect that I, the Minister of Veterans Affairs, our deputy ministers, and the chief of defence staff have worked on very closely to make sure we get this piece right, so that we take all of the recommendations that we have agreed to and look at how to turn them into a comprehensive way to actually create a practicality for our troops.

Making that piece right is important. We have focused on this, and I look forward to working on it and actually coming up with a thoroughly seamless process.

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

Mr. Chair, the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs also issued a report last year. Again, in our study, we tried to simplify the transition. There were several recommendations made in that report, which were endorsed by both the Department of National Defence ombudsman and the veterans affairs ombudsman. Therefore, I would like to ask the minister if he read that report.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, in addition to the reports, I also talk directly to the members to make sure we have this transition piece right, whether it is for our veterans or for our current serving members. We have taken into account the many recommendations. We need to make sure that we get this piece right, so if someone is injured in the military, that person can actually go back into the military when they are healthy, but if they cannot and they are injured, they can transition into civilian life.

We need to make sure that we actually support our family resource centres, as we have in the recent budget. There is also the great work the Minister of Veterans Affairs is doing with the programs themselves. He is trying to merge everything together so that we can have a transition piece. We are working very hard to make sure we get this particular piece right.

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

Mr. Chair, again, there have been a minimum of 10 reports over the last 14 years speaking about transition. Recently, there have been two since the government has taken over, and one just before that. I wonder if the minister could name any of the recommendations from these reports, and if so, what recommendations the minister feels he can implement as soon as possible from any of these reports.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, when it comes to reports, I have personally seen the difficulties of our members during their transition periods. One of the biggest ones is where members get released without their pension cheques. We have actually put personnel directly onto this so that we can reduce the number, but there is a lot more work that needs to go behind this.

It is about the care, the programs, and making sure their families are also looked after. There is much work that needs to be done. I have seen the difficulties that our troops have faced in this regard.

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

Mr. Chair, during the last election, the Prime Minister spoke about restoring lifelong pensions for veterans. In fact, he made that statement in Belleville. One of the things that the Prime Minister said at that time, and I believe the Minister of National Defence was standing behind the Prime Minister when he said it, was that no veteran should fight their government in court.

I would like to ask the minister if he agrees with that statement.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, our Canadian Armed Forces members who served should not have to fight their government. That is why we are working very hard to make sure our veterans have this. The government is committed to making sure that we bring this option back, to making sure we have the programs in place to look after not just the lifelong pension but also the other programs as well. It is not just about fixing one thing. We want to make sure this whole seam is done properly. This is something that we owe to our veterans, and something that we do need to get right.

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

Mr. Chair, that is an interesting answer because the previous minister of veterans affairs, who is now the member for Durham, halted the Equitas lawsuit. Even after the Prime Minister said what he said in Belleville, the Liberal government reinitiated the lawsuit in May of 2016.

If the Minister of National Defence believes that veterans should not bring their government to court, why was this lawsuit reinitiated by the government?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, we are committed to making sure that we look after our veterans. Since the member is bringing up the previous minister, it was a veteran who actually launched the lawsuit during the previous Conservative government's watch. Why did that have to take place?

Yes, we do need to fix this, and we are working very hard to make sure that we get this right. The Minister of Veterans Affairs has stated that he will be coming out with details on this option later this year. He is working very hard. We are also working hard together to make sure we get this transition piece right. It is not just about looking at one thing; we need to look at everything. For our veterans who have served, we want to make sure that we do not have a band-aid solution and that we get this entire piece correct.

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

Mr. Chair, it is kind of an odd answer, when the minister brings up the fact that it was the previous government that caused this. It was in fact the previous minister of veterans affairs who held the lawsuit in abeyance. It was in May of 2016 that the government reinitiated the lawsuit with these veterans. What is also funny about this is that the former parliamentary secretary for veterans affairs, the member for Kanata—Carleton, responded when I asked the question in question period that it is “unfortunate” that the group felt it had to continue the lawsuit.

Is this how the Minister of National Defence feels, that it is unfortunate, after what he just said, that these veterans had to reinitiate the lawsuit?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, the one thing that I want to be able to pass on to the House and to all Canadians is that the government and the Minister of Veterans Affairs remain committed to a pension-for-life option. It is in budget 2017, and we outlined that we will announce further details later this year. This is a very important aspect that we need to get right. I look forward to it myself, when the Minister of Veterans Affairs announces the details on behalf of the government.

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

Mr. Chair, the Minister of National Defence helped write the platform that claimed the government would bring back the lifelong pension to veterans. I would like to ask the minister what his understanding was, when he wrote the platform, of what was meant by bringing back lifelong pensions for our veterans.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, when it comes to looking after our veterans, one of the reasons I got into politics was making sure that we give the necessary tools to our men and women who have served our country.

We are committed to bringing back the pension-for-life option. We also need to make sure we look after all the other programs as well and offer the choice between this option and the lump sum payment, because we also have older veterans who have different needs. We want to make sure that the two options are done well so that the veteran can make an educated choice as to what better suits their needs and their families'.

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

Mr. Chair, that is where the confusion lies because the government is now talking about a lifetime pension option, and that was never the promise that was made by the Prime Minister, nor was it something that the minister himself was promoting. The minister was in fact the key outreach to CAF veterans. In fact, he and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Canada-U.S. Relations spoke to a group of 800 in British Columbia just prior to the election and said that it is essential to fix the problem of restoring the lifelong pensions for veterans. When the minister said that, he was certainly talking of fully restoring lifelong pensions, not as an option, or at least that was the understanding among those in attendance.

Is the minister going to stand by the pledge that he wrote for his government or is the return to lifelong pensions just an option that, when amortized, could mean only a few hundred dollars a month for our veterans? Is that the sacred obligation that he speaks of?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, our government is committed to our veterans. We have provided the tools to allow the Minister of Veterans Affairs to be able to come up with the proposal and the plan on behalf of our government. I, too, look forward to that. I am working very closely with the Minister of Veterans Affairs so that our veterans are looked after, and not just with those options but also looking at the other challenges that our veterans face. Job transitioning is just one of them.

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

Mr. Chair, again, as we speak about the return to lifelong pensions, I want to make it very clear that was never the issue during the election. It is understood broadly and widely within the veterans community, and in fact I would suggest that many veterans supported the Liberal government because it spoke about the return of lifelong pensions, not an option for lifelong pensions.

I want to talk, again, about the lawsuit. Why is the Minister of National Defence interested in suing or having the government continue to pursue the lawsuit of the very same CAF members that the government claims to support and why will he not tell the Prime Minister to drop this lawsuit against Equitas?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, this is one obligation that our government needs to get right, and we are working very hard in this regard. The Minister of Veterans Affairs has been given a mandate to make sure that he looks after the veterans. That is also one of the reasons why he is my associate minister, so that we can get the transition piece right.

When the Minister of Veterans Affairs announces on behalf of our government, we will present our plan to look after our veterans.

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

Mr. Chair, I hope that involves dropping the suit and it also involves what the Prime Minister promised when he stood up in Belleville and spoke about the return of lifelong pensions for veterans, not the option of a lifetime pension.

The final question I have is with respect to the Afghan memorial. This was, in one of the previous budgets, a priority. It was to have been done by 2017. What is the status of the Afghan memorial?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Chair, I think all Canadians want to honour the great sacrifices with the Afghanistan memorial. This is not one of my responsibilities, so I do not have the answer to this question. It is a Veterans Affairs' responsibility, so I cannot answer his question.