Mr. Speaker, I am pleased and honoured to speak today on behalf of the Bloc Quebecois during the debate on second reading of Bill C-67. This bill is of paramount interest to veterans. I have just listened to the secretary of state and I share his desire for continued recognition of all those who kept war away, maintained peace and continue to enrich our society through their community involvement.
We owe a lot to the veterans and that is why all of us, regardless of party, want to improve their living conditions. Canada has not failed in its duty. From the very start, it established and maintained resources for veterans.
These resources became more structured after the first world war. A system of pensions was born. Pensions were awarded according to disability criteria established by an independent body. It was not long, however, before criticisms were raised.
The main criticism, still heard today, concerns the delays in the pension process. This issue was given a hard look in the 1980s. In chapter 13 of his 1986 annual report, the Auditor General of Canada established that the disability pension process took an average of 13.2 months. The delay was criticized at the time. The Auditor General proposed improvements in efficiency, including automating the process and computerizing files. It was felt these measures could increase productivity by 25 per cent.
In 1987, legislative reform to do with the Veterans Appeal Board brought a flood of optimism. The Minister of Veterans Affairs at the time took the opportunity to affirm his confidence in the processing of pension applications. He said, on June 26, 1987, in the House, and I quote: "Hon. members will be aware of the substantial progress that has been made in reducing delays in the disability pension process. In the last two and one-half
years the time required to process pension applications has been cut by well over half. At the same time, a far greater percentage of decisions are going in favour of the veteran today than was the case previously".
The Conservative minister, the Hon. George Hees, went further, and I quote: "These very satisfactory results have been achieved in the face of an almost 100 per cent increase in case load. It is quite a remarkable feat for any operation to double its work-load while slashing its turnaround time by over half".
After an exclamation like that, all opposition members applauded. Even the Auditor General of Canada in his 1988 report estimated that the follow-up to his 1986 audit examination was adequate. He indicated, and I quote, "The department took positive action after making a decision on the best way to handle each case".
Yet we are sceptical now of this great optimism. Consider for instance that, according to the most recent studies, in 1992 the process took on average 18 months from the time of the initial application until the first decision. We believed things were better but that was not the case. To an ageing veteran, such a delay is incredible and unacceptable.
The longer waiting periods can be attributed to several factors. Numerous studies cited the department's move to Charlottetown in 1984 as a major one. The most recent of these studies, conducted at the department's request in 1993, also indicates very clearly the context of such delays and the accumulated backlog.
At this point, I would like to quote an excerpt from volume 4 of that study. "The move to Charlottetown gave rise to a significant loss in the organization's memory and technical skill. Partially in response to this loss, additional quality control procedures and steps were added to prevent serious errors on the part of employees not sufficiently familiar with the process or lacking full training. In time, some of these additional control measures and procedures took root, with the result that applications are now to a great extent processed sequentially and manually, which takes an unnecessarily long time".
Another important factor merits consideration. From 1982 to 1990, that is for nine consecutive years, the number of first applications increased continuously and regularly. For each of those eight years, the number of first applications increased on the average by close to one thousand. The number of first applications has gradually increased from 5,300 in 1982 to 14,100 in 1990.
Everyone will agree that a pension allocation system, regardless of how efficient it is, cannot do any better than its original capacity permits when it has to process 14,100 first applications in 1990, as opposed to 5,300 in 1982. Because of these factors, processing takes longer, and veterans, who do not have the time to wait, have to wait longer.
Therefore, we are in favour of the government's fundamental objective of reducing processing times and accelerating the process. This objective must take precedence over all other concerns.
However the official opposition wonders about the way with which the government proposes to attain this necessary objective. The bill proposes to merge the Canadian Pension Commission by transferring to the minister all jurisdiction over first applications on the one hand, and on the other, by transferring to the appeal board all staff and jurisdiction over the review process.
In the same breath, the government is bringing the Bureau of Pension Advocates back under the department's jurisdiction and has taken away from first-time applicants for veteran's benefits the right to approach the bureau for recourse.
Allow me to review the basic elements of the bill, starting with how it deals with the Canadian Pension Commission. The department proposes to eliminate, so to speak, the Canadian Pension Commission. The department justifies this measure by saying that the Canadian Pension Commission's favourable trial decisions were found to be consistent with favourable recommendations by the medical advisory services.
The department then questioned the existence of an independent commission which merely rubber-stamps the departmental services' recommendations. It then thought of replacing this commission with an initial decision at the departmental level and allocating commission resources to the review and appeal board in order to speed up the process.
We are concerned about this. For the first time since the pension allocation system is in place, initial decisions are subject to departmental authority. We understand that this measure is aimed at bringing the decision-making process closer to those directly affected. However, this measure to be implemented under departmental authority must respect the principle of impartiality at this stage. To process initial applications faster, we need to open up the decision-making process to those who do the work.
Another important element of this bill is the conversion of the Bureau of Pensions Advocates from an independent agency to just another organization within the Department of Veterans Affairs. This proposed conversion challenges government policy since 1971, when the bureau was set up outside the department in the name of openness.
We hope that this openness will be maintained for seniors applying for the first time who served many years ago. Of course, many things have happened and many laws have changed since then. We sincerely hope that removing this step will help veterans cut through departmental red tape. The report of the Senate sub-committee chaired by the hon. Jack Marshall,
which was released last autumn, reflects the scepticism this measure elicits.
The department intends to refer only cases heard after initial decisions to the Bureau of Pensions Advocates. In a way, this is like saying a veteran only needs legal assistance when he has to apply for review or appeal and when a decision, although favourable, is not satisfactory. This is an interesting assumption.
One wonders why it is necessary to merge the Bureau of Pensions Advocates with the department. Of course, if this speeds up the processing of veterans' claims, we are all for it. However, we must make sure that the integrity of the process is maintained.
The Bloc Quebecois earnestly hopes that veterans will see their claims processed more expeditiously, within structures that are fair, transparent and just. For years, many suggestions have been made at various levels for improving the pension allocation system. I would like to recall some of these suggestions which were included, for instance, in the assessment study of disability pensions conducted at the request of the department and released in 1993.
This study involved the organizational services branch and two consulting firms: Coopers & Lybrand and Deloitte & Touche. The latter firm dealt with issues relating to the pensions process.
Upon examining the firm's report in volume 4 of the study, one is struck first of all by the extent of control measures and additional procedures that cause undue delay. In 1992, these measures and procedures were applied within the department at the Veterans Services Branch, the Benefits Division, the Medical Advisory Branch, the district offices, decision-making support and non-medical benefits, the program planning and pension services, the pensions distribution service, the Medical Claims Research Section, standards and operations, supplementary benefits section and administration section.
This is just to illustrate how complex the system is. Imagine: every pension claim with its own specific file has to go through all these levels, each of which has several file check points. That is a major cause of undue delay, and that is why the study's recommendations included a substantial reduction in the number of check points within the department.
The department's study gives the distinct impression that the proliferation of these check points may be exacerbated by a climate of suspicion that prevails within each section and in relations between the sections. One feeds upon the other. I do not know whether this view of the pensions allocation system is held by the parties concerned, but this climate of suspicion may have helped to compartmentalize the various sectors and their activities. The answer would be to break down the walls and make the process more flexible. The bill seems to reflect the study's recommendations.
It is unfortunate to note, as the study does, that many suggestions for improving the system had fallen on infertile ground. The firm of Deloitte and Touche noted that, during its stay in Charlottetown, it was literally flooded with useful suggestions for improvement, which had been made internally, with no response. Here were first line employees making all sorts of suggestions, employees really hoping to improve the quality and the performance of the service. For people living in an atmosphere of mistrust, this is a rather odd sort of behaviour.
These suggestions, many of which were similar to other approaches contemplated over the years in various reports, proposed amalgamation of pension entitlement and evaluation processes; a single document on service for all needs; more involvement of regional advisors in the application review process; requirement that applications be accompanied by a diagnostic report and physician's medical report. These suggestions would certainly help cut delays.
Finally, seven main recommendations emerged from the study evaluating veterans' disability pensions. The only one that seems relevant to the bill is the third one, which provides that the department and the Canadian Pension Commission should streamline the decision-making process by combining pension entitlement and evaluation, by cutting the number of quality and process controls and by transferring responsibility for primary decisions to the group of pension medical advisors.
Do all these measures aimed at improving the process of pension allocation jeopardize the principle of arm's length relationship with the department? The study on pensions carried out for the department in 1992 would seem to have not gone unnoticed. During fiscal years 1992-1993 and 1993-1994, a number of changes were made to the pension process. The Estimates suggest that these changes would streamline operations and improve processing times.
A good number of the proposed improvements have already been implemented. To quote the Estimates for 1994-1995, "One of the most significant implementations resulted in a change in internal procedures which enabled the CPC to adjudicate on entitlement and assessment simultaneously. It is expected that this new procedure, implemented in May 1993, will reduce turnaround times in the first application process by four months".
So the minister has done his homework. It is 1995 now and we can no longer say that the average turnaround time for first applications is 18 months. Substantial improvements are presumably being implemented at this time. The system for recording medical benefits claims was apparently reorganized in 1993.
A new computerized system for pensions and the status of pensions was to have been implemented in March 1994, thus finally allowing computers to meet veterans' needs. If I may quote once again from the 1994-1995 Estimates: "Changes in procedures that have improved client service include sending favourable special awards and assessment hearing decisions directly for simultaneous pay and promulgation. Approximate turnaround time savings for favourable assessment hearings and special awards average 40 days and 45 days respectively".
Work on reducing turnaround times and the backlog is therefore underway at this time. This all augurs well, although there is always room for improvement. Let us hope that the bill proves to be helpful in this sense in bringing about further improvements in the system. Any delay for veterans is unwarranted. It is with this outlook in mind that the former Hon. Senator Marshall carried out his work in early fall of last year.
In the report of the Senate sub-committee he chaired, there is a very interesting section, called: "What is "the" system and how can it be improved now?" This section contains 10 very practical recommendations, numbered 32 to 41. They are very down-to-earth recommendations on how the system could be improved, by reducing delays and the backlog. The committee recommends the following: "That requests for service documents be forwarded electronically to Outside Documentation Section and that the documents be provided at no cost for veterans' organizations which operate a service bureau".
If we can believe how hard the department has been trying over the past two years to reduce delays, this recommendation should be implemented without a problem. And, furthermore, we are in the era of the information highway.
I continue to quote recommendations 32 to 41. "That the pages of the copy of the service documents be numbered to facilitate the work of the Précis Writers who will add their own extracts of the service documents, without typing, to the submission of the application for pension, and forward the package to the Medical Advisory for comment. That this documentation to which a copy of the Commission's decision would be attached serve as the "statement of case" in the next stage of the process, the hearing".
Can you imagine doing it any differently? Such sample solutions show that the kind of structure in place contributes little to the causes behind the delays and backlog. It seems that, to a much greater extent, the delays and backlog are due to entrenched ways of doing things that have resisted change.
The Canadian Pension Commission's persistent reluctance to give veterans the benefit of the doubt led to the following recommendation in the Marshall report: "That serious efforts be made by the Canadian Pension Commission to apply the provision of the `benefit of the doubt' at the first decisions level, in accordance with the Pension Act".
We feel like giving the benefit of the doubt to new services, new organizations better able to give veterans the benefit of the doubt.
The Senate subcommittee's report also contained the following recommendation aimed at speeding up assessments: "That the senior district medical officers rule upon assessments at the district level; that assessments for claimed conditions be determined by senior district medical officers in the early stages of the preparation of pension claims; that senior district medical officers rely on reports prepared by medical specialists qualified in the field relevant to the veteran's pensionable condition in order to raise the assessment of their patients who are veterans".
These recommendations are consistent with the desirable, contemporary objectives of process devolution and decentralization and with the department's intentions.
To conclude with my examples of concrete measures, the Senate sub-committee ruled on the decision-making process for awarding disability pensions by making this recommendation: "That all fully favourable decisions rendered by the Canadian Pension Commission and the Veterans Appeal Board -be ideally less than a page in length, and that unfavourable or partly favourable decisions strictly deal with the reasons why the application or appeal is being turned down".
These measures are likely to speed up the process and reduce the backlog of cases. We must check how such measures will be implemented, if we have not done so already. The Bloc Quebecois is committed to pursuing the changes designed to make the system even more effective.
Speeding up the process and reducing the backlog is mostly an administrative matter involving program structure, the department, the organizations, regulations, procedures and control measures. All these elements are involved in the exact way a public service is provided.
Administrative order must be based on principles. In the case of the veterans pension awarding process, some principles were established and applied. These principles are: equity, impartiality, uniformity and vested rights.
The government's bill can be neatly summed up by listing three recommendations contained in the briefing paper on pension reform, namely delegating the first-level decision-making process to the department; concentrating the appeal preparation work done
by the Bureau of Pensions Advocates; and merging the Canadian Pension Commission with the Veterans Appeal Board.
Does this bill challenge the basic principles behind the pension system? That is what we are concerned about and what we want to look into.
We agree with the worthwhile goal of speeding up the process and reducing the backlog in the veterans disability pension awarding process.
However, before making a final decision on this bill, we will pay attention to what veterans, veterans' organizations and public entities affected by the proposed reform have to say about Bill C-67. Our first priority will be to listen to their positions with attention and respect and, to the extent possible, support their wishes for the future.
