Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola.
I thank the official opposition critic for veterans affairs, the member for Brantford—Brant, for his motion today. It is disappointing that I even have to rise in this place today to speak to the despicable situation the government has put itself in. It was so disappointing when the Minister of Veterans Affairs found out that a convicted murderer, Chris Garnier, who is not a veteran, was receiving benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada for PTSD, which he has experienced because he killed police officer Catherine Campbell. It is benefit he should never be entitled because of his heinous crimes.
We have to remember that this individual, Christopher Garnier, picked up Catherine Campbell off duty, took her back to his apartment, broke her nose, strangled her, desecrated her body by treating it like garbage and dumped it underneath the Macdonald Bridge in Halifax.
Catherine Campbell was not just an outstanding police officer, but also a volunteer firefighter. I extend my condolences to her family. I hope that with this whole situation, they not have been revictimized by the actions of Veterans Affairs in extending benefits to the killer of their daughter, benefits he is not entitled to. That, to me, is very disgusting.
This whole debate today is disgusting. It is disgusting because of this vicious act of murder by Garnier. I am disgusted by a policy decision that may have been made erroneously by Veterans Affairs Canada. I am disgusted by the shameful behaviour of the Minister of Veterans Affairs. He comes in here every day full of pompous bravado, pounds his chest and rails against the opposition, but refuses to do anything to help our veterans and is allowing this murderer to be ahead of veterans in the line for services for things like PTSD. That is a lack of leadership, and I am disgusted by it. All of the veterans who have contacted us as members of Parliament are disgusted by the behaviour of the government and the failure of leadership by the Prime Minister in not interceding, correcting the behaviour of the Minister of Veterans Affairs and making sure these services are rescinded.
Let us look at the facts, because we are hearing all sorts of rhetoric from the Liberal benches. Christopher Garnier is not a veteran. He is 30 years old. He has never put on a uniform and there is no way he is entitled to any benefits from Veterans Affairs. The Liberals are claiming privacy because of his father, who was a veteran. However, let us be clear that these types of services are allowed for the dependant children and spouses of veterans, and they are still waiting in line while this non-dependant, 30-year-old adult is getting benefits that other families' loved ones should be receiving right now to deal with PTSD and operational stress injuries.
The fact is, if we look at the court case, as well as what has been reported in the media, Chris Garnier's father, Chris Garnier's lawyer, and Chris Garnier's psychologist all admitted in court and to the press that his PTSD is a direct result of his murder of Catherine Campbell. His PTSD is guilt and remorse for the vicious attack and the way he desecrated the body of his victim. He should never ever qualify for a Veterans Affairs benefit.
We need to keep in mind that Correctional Service Canada offers mental health and counselling services to all those who are incarcerated. There is no reason why Veterans Affairs Canada should ever feel it needs to provide service to anyone who is incarcerated. It has every opportunity to provide those services through other government agencies, and Correctional Service Canada has those services readily available to convicts right across the country.
We heard during question period, while we were hammering away at the Minister of Veterans Affairs for his ridiculous answers and shameful behaviour and his disrespect toward veterans, especially the family of Catherine Campbell, that the Liberals were going to rescind this policy. However, if we look at the details of what was announced, they are trying to provide cover for the minister, who still refuses to rescind the benefits of Christopher Garnier.
Throughout question period, we heard the Minister of Veterans Affairs hide behind privacy and say over and over again that he is going to stand by our veterans. First, Christopher Garnier is not a veteran. He should never receive veterans benefits. No adult child of a veteran gets any benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada. If the minister is so convinced that he needs to stand by our veterans, what would he do in the case of former Colonel Russell Williams, who was a serial killer? When we were in government and found that out, we rescinded all of his veterans benefits and his veterans pension, because he should not be entitled to any of those as an incarcerated serial killer. Therefore, how can the minister today stand in this place and say that he will stand by any veteran, despite any heinous crime they commit, when the precedent was set by our former Conservative government that we would not provide benefits to someone like Russell Williams, a former colonel in the air force?
The minister talks about standing by our veterans. Well, Sean Bruyea is suing the minister for defamation of character. That is how the minister acts. He stands by everyone, but look how he is treating Vice-Admiral Mark Norman. It is his government that is taking him to court for something he never did.
We keep hearing from the Liberal benches. We hear from the members for Winnipeg Centre and Winnipeg North. They get up and talk about all of the things they are doing. However, let us look at the real metrics of what the Liberals have done for veterans. Wait times under the Liberals have gone up from 16 weeks to seven months. Veterans are waiting longer under the Liberal government to get the benefits they are entitled to.
We just heard announced this past week that veterans are now going to be denied service dogs for PTSD, despite all of the research showing a significant reduction in PTSD symptoms among our veterans from those dogs. What is Veterans Affairs doing under the minister? It is going to take away this great animal husbandry program that provided companionship for veterans and reduced the impact of their PTSD and other operational stress injuries. Also, even though the Prime Minister promised he would not take veterans back to court, it was this minister who actually beat veterans in court with the Equitas lawsuit. What a great track record we have here.
Of course, the Liberals have cut $372 million in veterans benefits as a result of lapsed funding over their three-year tenure. I guess when the Prime Minister stood in Edmonton and told a veteran right to his face in a town hall meeting that he was “asking for more than we are able to give”, it proves the point that they had the money. They just do not want to spend it on our veterans.
The benefits program is just a shell game. It is not a pension for life. It is just a bunch of programs they put together and tried to reinvent the wheel with.
In closing, if there are any members on the Liberal bench who want to stand up for our veterans, rather than stand for their Minister of Veterans Affairs, they should stand tonight and vote yes for this motion and ensure that we stop and rescind all of the policies and programs that are being offered to Christopher Garnier.