Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise in this House as the Minister of Veterans Affairs. I want to thank the Associate Minister of National Defence and the two other members of this House who served in this capacity. I am the 31st minister of veterans affairs and I am the

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote Sir Robert Borden to this House: ...That you need not fear that the government and the country will fail to show just appreciation of your service to [this] country.... Our support for our veterans, from Borden's time to today, is important,

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, it appears that my friend is just as angry as he was last fall, which is unfortunate because my outreach to veterans groups was about listening and reaching out. All stakeholders were called and talked to, and I found that there is tremendous diversity among our stak

Veterans  Mr. Speaker, I met the hon. member in 1997, when I was a lieutenant at the air base in his riding. That was in 1997. A few years later, he voted in this place for the new veterans charter. What we have to realize, between 1997 and today, is that we have to meet the new and ongoin

Veterans  Mr. Speaker, as the member well knows, by the end of this year, veterans will have the opportunity to seek mental health support at 25 offices from coast to coast. It is about meeting the new and rising needs of our veterans and offering services for veterans who are in their 20s

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, we are trying to make sure that we are meeting the needs of veterans now and into the future. As he knows, in Halifax this year we will be opening a brand new operational stress injury clinic to meet the new needs of rising mental health. That w

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, over the last year and a half, I have enjoyed talking to Mr. Clarke on this issue and appreciate his service. In fact, our government listened to his advice and made sure that a trained and experienced case manager was available in the Service Canada office down the

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, as that member well knows, and if he does not, he should ask his colleague from Markham—Unionville, when the Liberals created the new veterans charter, we implemented it over the course of our government. The sad part is that every time we have made investments to im

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Mr. McAllister for his service to Canada and for being a passionate and engaging advocate. As the member well knows, because he has been in the House some time, several years ago our government committed—

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, I started by thanking Mr. McAllister, a veteran who served our country and someone who has been an engaging advocate. Hopefully, that pause allowed my colleague from Sackville—Eastern Shore to process the time he was in the House when the government committed $100 m

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, many of his colleagues voted for the new veterans charter, which is at the root of that lawsuit. I would remind him, as well, that as our government has continued to update and invest in items that the Liberals missed in the new veterans charter,

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, as that member knows, I was in Hamilton on Friday where I spoke directly with Canadian Forces members and veterans on the new veterans charter, while opening an operational stress injury clinic that will serve veterans in Guelph. In addition to that, the report was

National Defence  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Durham region for his service in the Canadian Forces. He is the only Afghan veteran in the House. Two years ago, the Minister of Justice, the then minister of national defence, presented the award for operational excellence to veterans

Parliamentary Precinct Security  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my learned colleague and air force caucus mate for his very good discussion of the challenges we face in the modern world when it comes to security. Quite frankly, I am shocked when sometimes people in this House harken back to the early days o

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, as that member well knows, those jobs do not need to be brought back because there were no cuts. The employees at issue were reassigned to front-line jobs at Veterans Affairs Canada. Their salaries were maintained and there were no moves involved. In fact, the chan