ACVA Committee Report

Common – Sense Conservatives Supporting Veterans in their Transition to Civilian Life

Once again, the Liberal Government and the latest report from the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs fails Veterans by completely missing the mark and ignoring the real concerns brought forward by the men and women who selflessly served Canada. The Liberals excuse for ignoring Veterans concerns is that this is an issue which could be examined in perpetuity as the evolving nature of the modern world and work force will undoubtedly continue to present new challenges to Veterans in transition. Therefore, the Liberal Government and their NDP and Bloc partners have attempted to absolve themselves of any responsibility to Veterans, but Conservatives wholeheartedly reject that Liberal premise and table this dissenting report to be a voice for Veterans, so their concerns don’t get swept under the rug yet again.

The position of the current Liberal Government is that because the transition process is something that is prone to changes in the future, it is hopeless for the government to try and improve certain conditions as they currently exist. Conservatives reject this line of thinking and condemn it as a weak attempt to avoid accountability to Canada’s Veterans. After 9 years of the NDP/Liberal Government, Canadian Veterans have never faced more uncertainty in their transition from the RCMP and Canadian Forces into civilian life. Record high inflation, caused by irresponsible government spending resulted in a cost-of-living crisis which has put more Veterans on the street and at food banks than at any other time in Canadian history.

Furthermore, the Liberal Government’s addiction to spending and growing the government continues to place administrative burdens on Veterans and the medical service providers that seek to support them in their transition.

Within the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, the Liberal members and the other parties that support them, deliberately neglected to address the immediate issues that Veterans have been raising for years. Conservatives do not accept that there is nothing the government and Veterans Affairs can do to make immediate and positive changes to the transition process for those who have served Canada and their families.

There are obstacles that stand in the way of a smooth transition for the men and women who serve Canada. Obstacles like excessive paperwork burdens on medical practitioners disincentivizing them from working with Veterans. Or the incoherent timeline and process to access education and training benefits once a member has decided they want to release. Even the lack of Veterans who are involved in the process to help pass on their experience to those navigating the transition process for the first time. These are all obstacles that the government has put in place and can remove immediately to instantly improve the lives of our Veterans.

Common Sense Conservatives believe that the reports which go to the House of Commons should reflect the voice of Canada’s Veterans, not the voice of the Liberal Party and its senior bureaucrats. Veterans transitioning to civilian life need a sense of purpose to drive them forward, not more photo ops and empty announcements from the government. As long as the Liberal Government and its NDP/Bloc supporters continue to stand in the way of Veterans, the process of transitioning to civilian life will be filled with unnecessary stress and hardship.

Veterans Helping Veterans

Conservatives understand that Veterans understand other Veterans best. The loss of military culture is one of the largest adjustments and changes for Canadians transitioning from the Armed Forces into civilian life. Having a strong Veterans presence within the department of Veterans Affairs would help create a culture that puts the needs and concerns of Veterans first rather than bureaucratic processes and red tape. Despite the previous Conservative Government legislating priority hiring for Veterans in the public service, the current Liberal Government never implemented the program. The result is that Veterans Affairs Canada consists of thousands of bureaucrats with less than 5% of them being Veterans. Additionally, there are many Veteran owned and operated businesses and non-profit organizations across Canada that work tirelessly to serve their fellow Veterans through peer support programs and initiatives. The success and positive feedback on many of these programs is a testament to the effectiveness of having Veterans helping each other and working together on common goals. This is a lesson that the Liberal Government has overlooked for years. Considering these facts Conservatives present the following recommendations:

The Liberal government has failed to prioritize the hiring of Veterans and should ensure that more are hired to work at Veterans Affairs Canada, where they can use their shared experiences to better serve their fellow Veterans. The government needs to set and pursue Veteran hiring targets to increase the number and proportion of Veterans working within Veterans Affairs Canada and report on this annually to the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.

That the Liberal government recognize the value of Veteran led peer support programs and do more to encourage this model for Veterans going through their transition which directly makes them more employable and allows them to use their unique skills and training within the civilian work force.

Fast tracking Security Clearances

Members of the RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces have typically been subject to extensive vetting and background checks. Time and time again our Veterans proved their loyalty to Canada as they were entrusted to use sensitive data to perform their jobs. A bottle neck in obtaining security clearances means many businesses have positions they cannot fill and productivity is lost. The Liberal Government has ignored the proposals from Veterans to create a process that recognizes that Veterans are trusted members of society who have already held security clearances. Therefore Conservatives propose the following recommendation

The government should develop a preferential system to fast track the acquisition of security clearances for Veterans who held clearances in the past to enable a seamless transition for Veterans.

Continuity of Medical Care

There are gaps which exist in the medical coverage for Veterans transitioning to civilian life from the military. These gaps not only cause undue stress and hardship, but they are the result of the Liberal Ministers not working together to help those who served their country.

The report correctly mentions the difficulty Canadians have in finding a family doctor, but then says there is nothing that Veterans Affairs Canada can do to address this! Conservatives will remind the government that the administrative burden that is placed on family doctors who take on Veterans as patients is actively discouraging other doctors from doing the same. With the current doctor shortage in Canada, the last thing a Veteran and their doctor needs is mountains of paperwork, especially for those cases when the Veteran already had a diagnosis or prescription from medical professionals within the Canadian Armed Forces.

The solution to eliminating this unnecessary burden on Veterans and their doctors is to have National Defence and Veterans Affairs carry over the diagnosis and prescriptions that Veterans received while serving in the CAF to Veterans Affairs. This would ensure a continuity of care for our Veterans as well as eliminating the need for Veterans to reprove their injuries or be reassessed before being able to resume their treatments once they release. With this in mind, Conservatives propose the following recommendation:

Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence should immediately synchronize their policies to recognize medical work that has been done by one department with the other to eliminate the unnecessary steps Veterans must face to continue their treatment plans for service related injuries.

Harmonization of Training Qualifications

Perhaps one of the most short sighted and damaging practices of the Canadian Armed Forces is depriving its members of industry recognition which limits their employability in the private sector. The rationale behind this was to prevent a “brain drain” or loss of talent to the private sector considering the Canadian Armed Forces pays substantial sums to train Canadians in everything from heavy equipment operation, carpentry, cyber security, project management, etc. Despite other allied nations having demonstrated the success of offering training free of cost in exchange for service and recruitment benefits, Canada has maintained a policy of retention through sabotage by refusing to provide industry certifications and courses to its members.

This means that when members of the CAF begin to transition to the civilian world, many have years of experience in a field, but no recognized industry certifications meaning they have to waste time and money to write entry level certifications in fields they may have decades of experience with. In light of this, Conservatives propose the following recommendation:

The Department of National Defence needs to harmonize training certifications in the Canadian Armed Forces with civilian qualifications, allowing Veterans to easily transfer their skills to civilian workplaces. The Liberal Government needs to end the gate keeping which is denying service members proper certifications in an effort to limit their employment options outside of the CAF.

Access to Education

Despite the Liberal Government promising that no Veteran would be released from the Canadian Armed Forces before all of their benefits and entitlements were in place, there still exists policy gaps which prevent service members from applying or beginning programs until certain amounts of time have lapsed. This effectively contradicts the Liberal promises and has gone ignored for the past 9 years since the promise was made. An example of a better approach is the United States’ GI Bill which opens funding for educational programs and degrees to members while they are still serving. This allows their members to apply for schools and programs and have the funds necessary to do so before they release, rather than waiting months for a release before having to apply for the benefits which can cause up to a year in delays.

Further to this, there are members of the Regular Force who transfer to the Primary Reserve Force so that they can pursue civilian employment or full-time schooling. These members are not permitted to access the education training benefits since they are still considered serving members. This leads to these members releasing completely and causes the military to lose precious knowledge, skills, and experience that they so desperately need in the midst of the recruitment and retention crisis. Conservatives propose the following recommendation to address this issue:

Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence need to cooperate to close the post-service employment gap experienced by Veterans by enabling them to access education and training programs immediately upon receiving their release date from the Canadian Armed Forces. The Education and Training Benefit needs to become available to Veterans as soon as they are informed of their release date by the Canadian Armed Forces and Education reimbursement programs need to be made available to members of the Regular Force transitioning into the Primary Reserve Force.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Conservatives believe that the report tabled deliberately attempted to downplay the role that the government plays in the transition process for Veterans. The government continues to portray the issue of transition as an abstract that cannot be easily addressed, but Conservatives have been listening to Veterans and we know that the current government is only getting in the way of Veterans when they attempt to transition.

How is a Veteran and their family expected to successfully transition and adjust to a new life and culture, when Veterans Affairs Canada bombards them with relentless paperwork? Such bureaucracy unnecessarily waste Veterans time and cause them undue stress. This is why the report the Liberals and their supporting parties tabled is so insulting to Veterans. The Liberal government continues to fail our Veterans and their families.

A Canadian Forces member can receive a diagnosis from a CAF doctor and a prescription for a lifelong condition, but upon releasing from the forces, VAC will not recognize the diagnosis or prescription and subject a Veteran to more assessments and then burden family doctors with excessive paperwork, driving most family doctors to the point they will refuse to take on Veterans. The same Liberal government will then turn around and issue a report stating that there is nothing they can do when it comes to improving what Veterans go through since health care is a provincial issue.

Canadian Veterans and their families are sick and tired of a government that talks the talk, but then forgets them when they need it. The Liberal Government continues to cause institutional trauma for Veterans and service members and still can’t seem to figure out why there is a massive retention, recruiting, and morale issue in the CAF and Veterans community. Conservatives are listening and will continue to demand better for those who risked everything serving Canada.