Veterans Affairs committee  It will be delayed a little because of the budget implementation bill, but you'll get the whole thing.

Veterans Affairs committee  This would really just be an opinion; I'm not a federal judge or anything. If you have holiday, legal holiday, and statutory holiday, you might actually create confusion, because there is no clear, uniform definition of what a statutory holiday is. Each province can decide what i

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't feel the pressure at all.

Veterans Affairs committee  First, the federal Parliament does not have the constitutional power to legislate on holidays for all businesses. It has the power to legislate on federal employees and employees in businesses under federal legislation. Even if it wished, it could not impose statutory holidays fo

Veterans Affairs committee  My understanding is that it would cover some of the intention presented by Ms. May, but it would restrict it to spouses of former members who have received either a pension or a disability award. The spouses of former members who have died as a result of service, within the under

Veterans Affairs committee  I agree with that statement. I think that would fulfill the intention that was presented. That would be a subamendment, though. It's not in the amendment.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't know.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, the transitional provisions don't apply. It's not the—

Veterans Affairs committee  Subclause 12(2) deals with the definition of “veteran”, not “spouse”—

Veterans Affairs committee  —and not “survivor”. It's “veteran”.

Veterans Affairs committee  I have one concern: that what it would do is cancel the definition of a spouse. For the intention that you are presenting now, I'm not sure that would be the way to do it, because the definition of a veteran has been modified, and to make it consistent, instead of going from para

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I understand that.

Veterans Affairs committee  As I understand it, it's basically that the release itself is the responsibility of the Minister of National Defence. But a release that is attributable to medical reasons is the responsibility of the Minister of Veterans Affairs. And if it's not specified, it's not clear who has

Veterans Affairs committee  The difference is between a priority and a preference given in the legislation. Before that, in the Public Service Employment Act, the priority was given to veterans and their survivors, but as stated in the definition at the end, it only applied to veterans of the Second World W

Veterans Affairs committee  I will say it in French and kindly ask the interpreters not to make any mistakes. Some questions have been raised as to whether members could express themselves freely, given that the government has filed an appeal on a case that is currently before a court in British Columbia.