Madam Speaker, I am very happy to be here to speak on behalf of the veterans who have served our country so well.
Last week, on September 25, I asked a question of the government about the 40,000 veterans who continued to be on a wait-list for their disability pensions. The response from the government was very much the same, which was to look at how much it had done and not to look at the fact that over 40,000 veterans in the country had been waiting for months and in some cases close to two years for their benefits.
I also want to take this opportunity to remind Canadians that in 2018, the member for Courtenay—Alberni moved a motion that was supported unanimously by every party in the House. That motion simply stated that any money left over at the end of the fiscal year would be reinvested into Veterans Affairs. Last year alone, $103 million were left on the table, money that was not reinvested in Veterans Affairs.
This year, the PBO came out with a report. I want to first take this opportunity to thank the Parliamentary Budget Officer for taking this on. It was a report I had requested. I really wanted to understand what was happening to the veterans who were on the wait-list. We heard about the 300 new temporary workers. This is an important part of this conversation. When we see a wait-list this big, I do not think we should see temporary workers. People should be employed full time, working and staying with Veterans Affairs. We heard that 40,000 folks, who had served our county, were on the wait-list and that they would have to wait another two and a half years before the list was even addressed.
The report said that if we wanted to see all of these veterans get the benefits they well deserved, the government needed to hire a further 392 full-time people to work at Veterans Affairs. This is very important. It lets us know how big the need is, that even with the 300 they have hired temporarily, they need to hire another 392 just to get all of those veterans the services and supports they well deserve and have been waiting for.
The other part of this reality is that a lot of veterans across the country are in desperation because of the lack of supports they are getting. They have applied for the CERB. They are very concerned they will get in trouble for that. I have asked the veterans minister to address this issue to ensure that veterans who are waiting for a disability pension do not get in trouble in any way for desperately asking the government to stand up and help them.
I want to let everybody across Canada know that the Parliamentary Budget Officer also confirmed that an investment of $128 million between now and 2025 would get rid of that backlog within one year and then maintain that level of service. Therefore, veterans who are now going through the process will not be part of a big backlog and having to wait a significant amount of time. Last year alone, $103 million were unspent in Veterans Affairs and that money did not get reinvested. Think what it could have done. The government needs to account for that.