SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 160 - Feb/14/23

Mr. John Williamson (New Brunswick Southwest, CPC)

Feb/14/23 10:03:03 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, two reports from the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. The first is the 25th report, entitled “Processing Disability Benefits for Veterans”. The second is the 26th report, entitled “Greening Government Strategy”. I believe we will hear from the hon. member for Edmonton West, who has two dissenting reports to table immediately after me. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to each of these two reports.

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Context: House Hansard - 160 - Feb/14/23

Mr. Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West, CPC)

Feb/14/23 10:03:45 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to table two dissenting reports. The first one is on the Auditor General's report on processing disability benefits for veterans. The Auditor General's report shows that Veterans Affairs is in crisis. At the time of the audit, the median wait time for processing for veterans was 39 weeks. The standard is 16 weeks. Despite achieving just 13% of annual targets, Veterans Affairs paid out bonuses to 98% of their management executives. We table this report with two recommendations: first, that Veterans Affairs study the effects of automation to improve the service time for veterans' disability benefits; and second, that the performance, at-risk and bonus compensation for Veterans Affairs executives be withheld until such time as backlogs of disability benefit claims have been cleared and the department's service standard target for assessing future applications is consistently met. The second dissenting report is on the “Greening Government Strategy” report. The Auditor General, in her report, states the government has provided the worst GHG emissions outcomes in the entire G7. Furthermore, the report states that Treasury Board rules require that the department sign off on the integrity of its GHG emissions. Seventy-five per cent of the departments, including the Department of Environment, refused to sign off on integrity, showing that their emission results are much like their environmental plan, which is a sham. We therefore submit three recommendations: first, that the Treasury Board Secretariat ensure that all departments follow the rules and that the assistant deputy ministers sign off on the integrity of their mission data; second, that the Treasury Board provide clear, transparent projections of costs to the Canadian taxpayers to achieve net-zero by 2050; and finally, that all federal department plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 be based on existing technology and policies to accurately monitor, evaluate and communicate the performance of each department in reducing GHG emissions.

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Context: House Hansard - 160 - Feb/14/23

Ms. Monique Pauzé (Repentigny, BQ)

Feb/14/23 1:44:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think I missed what the member said at the beginning, so I will stick to what the motion says. When the Conservatives talk about cutting spending, do they want to cut the $65 billion in old age security and guaranteed income supplement payments to seniors? Do they want to cut the $7 billion in GST rebates for low-income earners? Do they want to cut the $4 billion in veterans' benefits? Do they want to cut the $43 billion in EI benefits? Do they want to cut health transfers? When they talk about cutting spending, exactly what are they talking about?

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Context: House Hansard - 160 - Feb/14/23

The Deputy Speaker

Feb/14/23 4:02:35 p.m.
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While I wait for the bell to leave, I would remind all members to have their phones on vibrate or turned off. The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs.

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Context: House Hansard - 160 - Feb/14/23

Mrs. Marie-France Lalonde

Feb/14/23 6:42:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, again I want to thank the hon. member for his service to Canada. I represent the community of Orléans, where we have a lot of active military members and veterans. It is always extraordinary for me to be a part of that. As I have said on a few occasions, if it was a matter of will, there would be 40,000 Afghans here in Canada. The current situation in Afghanistan is complex, and the challenges are extraordinary. We are constantly navigating an evolving situation with the government, and we have no military or diplomatic presence on the ground. We continue to explore all avenues to support the safe movement of Canada-bound Afghans out of Afghanistan to a third country and to maximize every opportunity to help them travel. I want to be clear. This effort is ongoing, and we are using all options at our disposal.

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