Madam Speaker, I am very happy that you are in the chair today. I know that you have a very good sense of humour. Looking at my desk, I feel like I am having a yard sale. I forgot my own glasses at my condo, so I am using some from the lobby. They are women's glasses, so I hope I can carry them off. Maybe I could exchange with my colleague across the way.
It is truly an honour and a privilege to stand here on behalf of the people of Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan. This is an important issue for our riding because, not only do we have two military bases, but we have a lot of veterans who live and reside within the riding. Before I go any further, I would like to say that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Battle River—Crowfoot. I am making sure that I am dotting my i's and crossing my t's.
I appreciate everything that has been shared today by my colleagues in the NDP and in the Liberal Party on this very important subject. One of the things that was brought up was priorities. I want to focus on that for veterans right now. I am one of those members who have served. I did not serve for very long, and I did not do anything that was heroic or dramatic. I think of those who have put in a lot of time, who have served overseas, and who have encountered, seen and witnessed things that we, as Canadians, have not.
What they experience and what they bring back to this country is sometimes hard for them to understand, including the devastation that men can do to each other. They come back to this country and walk through grocery stores where things are aisled up. There is milk everywhere, and there are eggs and groceries in abundance. We live in a country of abundance, and that is what they are fighting for. However, they do not understand what they have witnessed in other countries, where people are fighting for scraps and where people are treating each other inhumanely.
That stress and that trauma manifests. One of the biggest challenges we deal with in veterans affairs is post-traumatic stress disorder. My cousin served in the PPCLI and was in the Medak Pocket, in Croatia. He came back and has faced those challenges. He shared with me what he has dealt with.
We know that it is not just the person who is serving in the military who experiences that. They bring that home with them. They come home and their spouses do not understand why their husband or their wife has changed. They could not wait for their spouse to come home and to start their lives over again. They missed their spouse. The kids missed their parents. Things happened. They were not able to spend Christmas together. They want to make up time, but there is something missing in that person. There is brokenness. Sometimes marriages fall apart, and we understand that. People can move on. They rebuild their lives, and they go and get married again. Some get married when they over the age of 60, and this is what we are here to talk about.
We are here to talk about the meaning of this gold digger clause. It has to be said that this is, culturally, an old comment made over 100 years ago. We now live in a different culture. The Canadian Forces and Canada have evolved, and our engagements, where we have been deployed and what we stand for, have changed. This is one of the issues that was brought to the veterans affairs committee for us to study.
The committee has conducted many studies. For some of these, even with my own experience as being someone who has served, I have to say I was horrified. I was horrified to hear what some of our witnesses had experienced and gone through, but it is important to keep our eyes and ears focused on the times and on what we are experiencing. Time and time again, we are hearing about the challenges veterans are dealing with upon retirement.
The cost of living crisis is impacting veterans. More veterans are using food banks than ever before because of, as my colleague from Battle River—Crowfoot mentioned earlier, inflation. Inflation has impacted veterans, who are on fixed incomes. If they have remarried and their spouse is helping them out, as we talk about this gold digger clause, which I will get to, they are finding their dollar, their buying power, is not going far enough. It is not meeting the needs of today's grocery prices, and veterans are finding challenges. They are cutting corners. They are cutting meals.
I have heard heartbreaking stories of the spouses who have had to care for them. They have fallen in love. They love their partner and need to care for them. They made a commitment. They made an oath in front of the church, in front of their families, that they would stand by them through sickness and in health. Many of these veterans are dealing with issues related to the war, because of, for example, carrying backpacks, or they have physical or mental ailments. These spouses over the age of 60, who are there to care for them, are being left out. We understand that, so that is why it was so important for us to do this report. It was important for us to listen to the people who are caregivers now for those they love who have served.
One of the challenges we have dealt with in this file is that, after hearing the heartbreaking stories, we are finding that this file has gone from pillar to post. We understand we just cannot change one pension act. There has to be a holistic and inclusive look at this. We understand that, but one of the challenges is whether this is a priority or not.
One of the disappointing things we recently heard about is that the Minister of Veterans Affairs has had to take on another portfolio. One of the biggest concerns for the Conservative Party is whether there is enough focus being put on veterans, after all the horrific stories we have heard time and time again of neglect, of not being a priority for the Canadian government and of continually being put on the back burner. Is this department now being put on the back burner because the Minister of Veterans Affairs has another portfolio to look after? That is one of the questions the Conservative Party has. Is the government focusing on this file?