Peter Stoffer

[Business of Supply, March 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister of Veterans Affairs is at least awake during this debate. That is quite an improvement over one Conservative member who was not listening the other day.

We know Ste. Anne's Hospital in Quebec is being transferred. There are 1,300 jobs, plus another proposed 500. That is a possibility of 1,800 jobs out of a department of 4,100, which is a proposed 40% personnel cut to the department. No other department in the country is facing that type of cut.

We think it is wrong. We hope the government is listening to the debate. I can only hope and pray that the government will do the right thing and vote with us tomorrow, at 5:45 p.m., in support of veterans and their families.

[Business of Supply, March 5th, 2012]

moved:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) honour the service of Canadian military and RCMP veterans and their families by committing to not cut Veterans Affairs Canada in the upcoming budget; and (b) provide programs and services to all military and RCMP veterans and their families in a timely and comprehensive manner.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the federal NDP for the opportunity to use one of our rare opposition day motions to highlight the very serious concerns facing our military and RCMP veterans and their families. I wish to inform you that I will be sharing my time today with the great member of Parliament for Québec.

The motion says very clearly that we are trying to help the Minister of Veterans Affairs maintain the fiscal budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that all programs and services will continue and so military and RCMP veterans and their families will have access to those services right now.

It is no secret that the last few Fridays I have mentioned in the House the situation of 90-year-old Ted Shiner from Bedford, Nova Scotia, who was denied VIP service to assist him. Ninety-seven year old Louis Dionne, a World War II veteran from North Vancouver, was told that it would take up to 16 weeks to get an answer as to whether he was eligible for VIP service, the veterans independence program, that would help him with housekeeping and groundskeeping services. This would allow him to stay in his home longer. That is the current level of service. If the department is cut, future military and RCMP veterans and their families will have a harder time accessing the benefits and services they so richly deserve.

Dan Slack of the Veterans Advocacy group told me something that I thought was very poignant. We and the government say that we send the very best to Afghanistan. We give the men and women the best training, the best equipment and the best mission in the world to deal with the situation. That is three bests in a row, but when they come back and ask for services and benefits, they do not get the best. What happened? We send them over there and praise the fact that they are the best in all aspects, but when they come back, a lot of them end up homeless. A lot of them struggle to get the benefits they require.

Bear in mind, we are talking about the proudest, bravest and most honest Canadian citizens there are, including their families. Our best and brightest serve in the RCMP and military. Simply calling the 1-866-522-2122 number looking for help is a tremendous feat, admitting they may have a problem, either medically or psychologically. Instead of telling them that they require these forms and that we will get back to them in 16 weeks, we should be asking them, very clearly, how we can help them. We should be asking them what they need to get back on track. However, that does not happen.

I want to praise the front-line staff members of VAC. I have met many of them across the country. The front-line workers of DVA do an outstanding job with what they have and they deserve our credit. The problem is they are restricted on what they can give. Certain things have to go up the chain for authorization and in many cases military and RCMP veterans have to go before the Veterans Review and Appeal Board and that is the crux of the problem. This politically-appointed board, and very few members of which have any military service and none are medical doctors, adjudicate on behalf of the Government of Canada through DVA on cases before them.

We remember all too well the case of Steve Dornan from the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, who fought for nine years to get the benefits he required because he had cancer, which the doctors and everyone else admitted may have been caused by his exposure to chemicals and depleted uranium during this tour in Bosnia. He had to go to Federal Court to get the DVA to admit that it was not qualified to adjudicate medical evidence because the members were not medical doctors. What did VRAB do? It sent it back to the minister of the day and just before the election, the minister indicated that Mr. Dornan could receive benefits.

Why would a hero of our country, a sergeant in the military who has cancer, not be eligible for benefits? His wife had to stage a sit-in in the office of the member for West Nova to get the attention of the government. They have already fought for our country once. Why should they have to fight again?

The motion proposed motion today did not originate from the NDP. It came from every veterans advocacy group in the country. The Royal Canadian Legion, The Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans in Canada Association, the National Council of Veteran Associations, the National Aboriginal Veterans Association and the Canadian Veterans Advocacy Group support the motion. Many men and women in the service, although they cannot say publicly, have called to support the motion.

Every veterans advocacy group supports the motion and they did so in writing to the minister, asking that the department be exempted from the cuts in the March 29 budget. It was not us, but we are advocating on their behalf in order to help the minister ensure that the current level of benefits to the services will be maintained.

Later on members will hear the minister and others say that there will not be cuts to the programs and services to our current veterans. They may be correct, but the question is this. How do they get the service in the first place? That is the difficulty.

Right now the average case worker has over 900 cases with which to deal. Some of those cases are veterans with multi-injuries from psychological to severe physiological changes. Some have lost arms or legs and there are psychological injuries that create problems within families. They need an intensive amount of help, not just a “hi” and get passed on to someone else. They need time in front of someone in order to get help. Unfortunately, a lot of these case workers just do not have the physical time to do that.

Although I wanted to ask for an increase in the budget, my party said, no, that we would go with this and fight for further increases down the road. If the we can maintain what we have, that is a start.

I know the Minister of Veterans Affairs in his heart of hearts truly cares about the men and women of our services, in the RCMP and their families. I know a lot of these decisions come from the Treasury Board. I would often like to put a prophylactic barrier around the Treasury Board so it would stop doing to Veterans Affairs what sometimes Veterans Affairs does to our veterans.

The men and women of our country deserve the best. When the department picks up their numbers, the only response should be: “How can we help you and what is it that you need?” However, that is not how it works. Many veterans are told they can appeal, but they just give up on those folks and do not appeal at all. Let us not forget that we have close to 750,000 retired service and RCMP personnel along with their spouses. DVA admits that it only looks after around 215,000. Therefore, two-thirds of that community is not being serviced by Veterans Affairs.

Many veterans have not called in for a benefit yet. Many have said that they tried, but the department said no and they gave up. A lot said that they were not going to go through two, three, four or five years of fighting only to be told by people, who are politically appointed to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board, that this was their final decision and if they did not like it, they could always go to the federal court. It is a shame.

I could go on all day and occupy the time of the House, but I know other people would like to speak to the motion. However, I ask the Government of Canada, the Conservatives, to join with us and all the veterans advocacy groups on the motion to maintain the budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs so all veterans, RCMP veterans and their families will receive services in a timely and comprehensive manner. That is all we ask.

On behalf of my party, God bless all the men and women who serve and their families.

[Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, March 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is not a question of the NDP being against free trade. What we have always asked for is that trade be fair, and that labour and environmental standards be enshrined in trade agreements. That is a tenet of a social democrat. It is no good that the workers in this country benefit, if workers in the country that we are trading with do not benefit as well.

Let us look at Mexican workers. We were told during the free trade deals with Mexico that their living standards would rise and rise, and so would ours. Well, 400,000 people lost their jobs in Ontario, no rising there. I have been to Mexico a fair number of times, and I have seen some whose standard has not changed too much.

In trading with Panama, the reality is this is a country that is inadvertently a tax haven for nefarious organizations, such as the drug cartel. One would think that if Canada wanted to trade with Panama that it would be paramount that we get Panama to agree to stop being a tax haven for that type of activity. That should have been number one.

Number two, where are the labour and environmental agreements enshrined in this agreement? They are not there.

Number three, the fact is our colleague, the hon. member for Burnaby—New Westminster said very clearly that with the 11 amendments that would have strengthened the agreement, it would have gotten New Democratic support. However, every single one of the amendments was ignored.

I remember a Conservative committee that denied every amendment from a gentleman from Mount Royal on Bill C-10. Every single one of those amendments was defeated at committee. Yet, when it came back to the House for third reading, the government wanted to institute those amendments, but it could not do it. The government took it to the Senate, where the amendments that the gentleman from the Liberal Party proposed were then put in.

Why did the government do that? Just because it has a majority does not mean it has all the good ideas. Our colleague had some very sound and basic ideas to improve and strengthen the trade deal with Panama. They were rejected outright. It was not because the members of the committee understood what he was saying, it was because they were told to reject them. It is as simple as that.

If the government brings us back an agreement that includes labour and environmental standards, and ends the tax haven for drug dealers, maybe the NDP will support this initiative. Until that happens, the government should send it back. The reality is that on every single trade deal that has been out there, the NDP has been front and centre. We have been very clear that there is no deal unless labour and environmental standards are enshrined in the deal. There can be no side agreement, no bargain back here. They should be enshrined in the context of the deal.

That way, labour unions in Panama could collectively bargain with their employers and with their government to have the same rights that our trade unions have here in Canada in their collective agreements. That is the commonality we look for. We also want environmental standards to increase in both countries in order to improve the natural environment of both countries.

If the government does that, we should be able to enter into trade deals in order to assist businesses and workers. Unless that happens, there is really no deal on this side.

[Veterans Affairs, March 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the minister just said that the department looks after only 200,000 people. There are 750,000 retired military and RCMP veterans and their spouses and many of them are being denied help by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The minister can speak about this file because he has it on his desk. We gave it to him two days ago. The Dionne's do not have 16 weeks to wait to get help. They need help as of yesterday.

I am asking a very straight-forward question. Will the minister now tell his officials to provide the help that this World War II hero and his wife so richly deserve?

[Veterans Affairs, March 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, last week we brought to the attention of the House 90-year-old World War II veteran, Ted Shiner from Bedford, who was denied VIP services.

This week on the minister's desk, he has the file of Mr. Louis Dionne and his wife, Muriel, from North Vancouver. Mr. Dionne is 97 years old and as of yesterday is hospitalized. He is about to be released to go home. His 89-year-old wife said she is unable to look after him. They applied for VIP services, but they were told it will take 16 weeks before they get an answer. Mr. Dionne is 97 years old. When is the government going to help the Dionne family?

[Macdonald-Laurier Institute, March 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, today I bring to members' attention the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Ottawa's truly national policy think tank. MLI is a rigorously non-partisan organization dedicated to making poor policy a thing of the past in Ottawa. The institute has a phenomenal impact on public policy debates, on topics that really matter to Canadians.

Even though it opened its doors only two years ago, the institute's work has already been cited by five present and former prime ministers, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist magazine and the editorial boards of The Globe and Mail and National Post. Now the institute has been recognized with an extremely prestigious international distinction. In January, MLI was ranked one of the top five new think tanks in the world. This distinction is part of the 2011 Global Go-To Think Tank rankings, an annual review of think tanks worldwide by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

I tell my personal friend, Brian Lee Crowley, to keep up the good work, along with all of his associates. We wish them good luck now and in the future.

[Dean Heywood, February 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is with sadness that I rise today to mention to the House of Commons the passing of a great Canadian, Mr. Dean Heywood, a long-time CBC parliamentary TV cameraman. From Meech Lake to Afghanistan and points in-between, Dean covered the most important stories of the day. He was always the one to get the shot and the picture that others wish they had landed.

As long-time friend and colleague, Ms. Julie Van Dusen, used to say, he always got the shot and knew the story inside and out. He loved his job and he liked living on the edge. His friends also said that he was a bit of a crusty fellow but that at the mention of his family he turned into a big marshmallow.

On behalf of the House of Commons, for his wife, Cheryl, his children, Chris, Jasmin and Duncan, and his entire CBC family, we say God bless the memory of Mr. Dean Heywood, a truly great Canadian.

[Points of Order, February 17th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I am not sure how it happened, but during question period I was cut off on a question.

I wonder if you would seek the unanimous consent of the House so that I can finish my question. It was a really good one.

[Veterans Affairs, February 17th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, with respect to the veterans independence program, the Prime Minister promised in 2005 that immediately upon forming government, every widow and widower of a World War II and Korean war veteran would get VIP, but less than 10% of that promise was fulfilled. That is why we vote against these budgets that do not meet the mandate and do not get the job done.

Harold Leduc is an honoured veteran and a member of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. His medical and psychiatric information was scattered throughout the department in an illegal manner. My question for the government is, if it has happened within the Veterans Review and Appeal Board that medical information--

[Veterans Affairs, February 17th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, we know the Department of Veterans Affairs says no a lot to its veterans.

I would like the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs to stand in her place and look in the camera at 90-year-old Bedford veteran, Ted Shiner. All Mr. Shiner is asking from the Government of Canada is for a little help with housekeeping and with his feet.

The government can find $50 million to sprinkle like pixie dust through the riding of Parry Sound—Muskoka but it cannot find enough shekels in the pot to help a 90-year-old veteran with housekeeping so he can stay in his own home with a little more dignity.

The government is fully aware of this file. There is no privacy to be concerned about as Mr. Shiner has given his permission to talk about it.

I would like the parliamentary secretary to stand in this place and tell Mr. Shiner why he was denied VIP service.