Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question is also for the government leader in the Senate. Last month, the Union of Veterans’ Affairs Employees wrote to Minister MacAulay regarding the workload of case managers at the department. In 2015, the Trudeau government promised that the ratio of veterans to case managers would be 25 to 1. However, the union says that as of this fall only a handful of case managers had fewer than 30 veterans to manage. The average caseload for case managers was between 40 and 45, with some case managers reporting over 50 veterans on their list.

Leader, this situation is negatively impacting not just the veterans waiting to receive care, but also the Veterans Affairs employees themselves. When will your government live up to its promise to lower the caseload ratio at Veterans Affairs and give our veterans the service they deserve?

(1430)

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Leader, just before Remembrance Day, Minister Lawrence MacAulay gave an interview in which he promised once again that the Trudeau government would hire more staff at Veterans Affairs to deal with the high caseload at the department. However, the minister did not say how many workers would be hired or when. Almost a month has gone by and there are still no specifics from the Trudeau government. I know you’ve acknowledged that the caseloads have increased and that hiring is one of the priorities.

Leader, has Minister MacAulay or anyone from your government responded to the letter from the Union of Veterans’ Affairs Employees? What was the response? Could you find out how many of the temporary workers who were hired to deal with the backlog are scheduled to be let go by March 2022, which is only a few months away?