SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Blake Richards

  • Member of Parliament
  • Conservative
  • Banff—Airdrie
  • Alberta
  • Voting Attendance: 68%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $145,439.36

  • Government Page
  • Dec/5/23 11:26:46 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, what we are talking about here today is a situation where a Prime Minister, who has told veterans that they were asking for more than the government can give, delayed a monument for eight years. I absolutely agree with the member that it is critically important that we listen to our veterans. I have served as our party's critic for veterans affairs, and that is exactly what I have done. I have listened to veterans, and I am hearing what they need, but they are not receiving it from this current Liberal government. A Conservative government will bring that home for our veterans.
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  • Dec/5/23 11:24:49 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member is absolutely correct. We know that the minister of veterans affairs and the minister of Canadian heritage at the time would have some knowledge of what exactly occurred. Now, we know that the Prime Minister's Office interfered. The Prime Minister's Office likely directed them on what they were supposed to do, but they could have come to committee and clarified that for us. If there was a good reason for why they needed to change the design of the monument, why that year and a half of extra delay needed to occur and why they needed to leave this mired in controversy, one would have thought that the ministers would have gladly come to committee and clarified what that good reason was. However, they will not even admit who made the decision, let alone come and clarify their reasons for it. Once again, it is more disrespect to our veterans, more disrespect to the 158 Canadians who gave their lives in Afghanistan and more disrespect to the families who mourn them. That is shameful.
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  • Dec/5/23 11:23:06 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, that member stands up and says he is proud of the Liberals' record. He is proud of a government that says to veterans, “You are asking for more than we can give.” He is proud of a government that spent eight years just to announce a design, and it bungled it so badly and there was so much interference from the PMO that now it is mired in controversy and will probably end up in court. Veterans in this country are left wondering when they will have the monument they deserve. The families of the 158 fallen are left wondering when they will have the monument that their loved ones deserve. The member is proud of that. I will tell him that he should be absolutely ashamed.
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  • Dec/5/23 11:12:06 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, first, let me inform you that I will be sharing my time with the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles. The current Prime Minister has infamously said “they're asking for more than we can give” when referring to our veterans. This has been a source of great consternation for veterans ever since that time. The government has shown that disrespect in so many other ways, but that comment sums up exactly how the Prime Minister feels about our veterans, their sacrifices and their service. The issue we are talking about today is just another example of that absolute disrespect from the government and from the Prime Minister to our veterans and to the families of those who have served. Let us think about the delays with this monument. The government took eight years just to announce a design for a monument to those who served in Afghanistan. Not only did it take eight years to do that, but it bungled it so badly that now nobody knows when this thing will ever be built. A design firm was chosen to build this monument by the jury the government selected and with the process the government set-up. That was decided in November of 2021. In the next year and a half, up to June of 2023, the government spent all of that time trying to figure out how to disregard the decision of that jury. No one knows why it wants to do that. Is this another typical act of the Liberals trying to find a way to award to their friends or is this something else? No one knows. What we do know is that the Prime Minister's Office interfered in that process in that year and a half. There is all sorts of evidence that this occurred. Nobody in the government will answer to that. The Liberals will not explain the reasons for this. They claim there was this survey and that they heard from veterans. It has been already indicated in the House that there is no way to verify it was actually veterans they were hearing from. Most important, in the original talking points of the government about this, when it was planning to announce it back in 2021, it said why it was important to follow the jury's decision above that of this survey. Now it is using this survey as the reason for it, so everyone knows that is not the truth. That is not reason it is not proceeding with the monument originally chosen by the jury. No one knows why, but we do know the Prime Minister's Office interfered and, therefore, has disrespected all those who served our country during the Afghanistan mission. The government has disrespected and dishonoured the memory of the 158 Canadians who laid down their lives. It has disrespected the families of the fallen and all those who serve our country by delaying this monument for that period of time, by putting this cloud over it and by leaving us in a situation where no one knows when the heck this thing will ever be built. Those who served our country in Afghanistan deserve that monument, they deserve it now and they deserve better than what they are getting from the government. I will speak again to the timeline. The government spent the period of time from when it was elected in 2015 until November of 2021 to have this process it set-up arrive at a decision. That process arrived at a decision in November of 2021. In the next year and a half, with all sorts of interference from the Prime Minister's Office, the government fumbled around and tripped over itself to try to figure out a way to change the decision of that jury. As was mentioned by the Bloc member who brought forward the concurrence motion today, this is something that has never been done before. Not only has it never been done before in Canada, but there is no precedent anywhere in the world for this sort of thing, for when these types of jury processes are set up. This is the first time, that anyone can speak to, that this jury process has ever been disregarded like this, and nobody knows why, except for the Prime Minister and probably a few other people. Obviously we cannot refer to the presence or absence of members in the House, but there is one person who could have stood up when the Liberal member got up to give a speech today, and that is the former minister of veterans affairs, the current Minister of Agriculture. I cannot refer to whether or not he was present, but he could have stood up and he could have clarified the situation. I am sure he was told what to do by the Prime Minister's Office. He could have told us why the Prime Minister's Office told him that he needed to disregard the jury process and mire this project in such controversy that now no one knows when the heck it will ever be built. He could have stood up and clarified that for us, but, no; instead, the Liberal parliamentary secretary who always stands up stood up and spouted out a bunch of drivel. He did not speak to what happened and why it happened. He gave us the typical talking point that we have heard and the justification that we all know is false and we all know is not the truth. That is all we got from that member. We could have had clarification on what exactly happened. Maybe there was a good reason, but if there were, we would think that in the last two years somebody from the government would have provided that justification. We can only assume that the Liberals' reasons are not something they want to divulge to Canadians, which would mean that there is something fishy going on here, and that is at the expense of our veterans. That is at the expense of the 158 Canadians who gave their lives in Afghanistan. That is at the expense of their families who mourn them and grieve. Let us imagine what they must feel like to be witnessing what the government is doing. The least that anyone who serves this country could expect to have is a monument to the mission that they served in, a monument to the lives that were given in service to this country. That is the very least that anyone could expect, and the government is not even willing to provide that without involving some kind of political interference and delaying this project for who knows how long. The Liberals cannot even answer as to when the monument will be built because of the controversy that has now been created. One would have hoped that today might be the day when the government realized the error of its ways. The government members were given the opportunity today, through this motion, to stand up and clarify the situation. The former minister of veterans affairs could have stood up in his place and told us what happened. Maybe even better, he have stood up and told us that the Liberals were wrong, that they will do better, that they will do right by our veterans, that they will do right by those 158 Canadians who gave their lives, that they will do right by their families who were left behind to mourn them. Did we get any of that? No, we certainly did not, far from it, in fact. What we got instead was more disrespect for those veterans, more disrespect for the families and more disrespect for those who serve this country. It is shameful. It is absolutely shameful. This monument has been delayed now for eight years by the government, and who knows how much longer it will be delayed. All that is for what? No one knows, except for the Prime Minister's Office, why the Liberals interfered in this process. Why did they delay this? Why did they disrespect our veterans who served this country? Why did they disrespect those who gave their lives for this country? Why did they disrespect the families of those who have fallen? No one knows, but I wish the Liberal government would just stand up and say, “We were wrong. We should not have disrespected our veterans in this way, and we are going to fix it.” I really hope that, maybe at some point in this debate, that will still happen, because that is what our veterans deserve, that and nothing less.
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  • Dec/5/23 11:08:14 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the member about two things. First, if the Liberal government truly believes the words that he is saying, that it cares so much about trying to ensure veterans are honoured and appreciated, why did it take it eight years just to announce a design of a monument? Most particularly, when the jury made a decision in November 2021, it took from then until June 2023 to announce it. In between, there is all sorts of evidence of the Prime Minister's office interfering in the process to change the decision. No one knows why the government wanted to change that decision. Maybe the member could shed some light for us today on exactly why the government spent eight years on this, with a year and a half of the Prime Minister interfering and showing such disrespect for our veterans? Why did the PMO interfere and show so much disrespect for our veterans?
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  • Nov/9/23 10:13:07 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 13th report of the Standing Committee on Veterans, on the national monument to Canada's mission in Afghanistan, which states: That the Committee denounces the government's about-face and lack of respect for the rules in deciding not to award the design of the commemorative monument to the team linking the artist Luca Fortin and the architectural firm Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker, which won the competition conducted by a team of experts set up by the Liberal government itself.
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  • Oct/26/23 3:05:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Remembrance Day ceremony in Halifax has had to move out this year because a tent city has overtaken its usual grounds. After eight years of the Liberal government, things are so broken in Canada that the housing crisis uprooting Canadians has now also uprooted at least one city's Remembrance Day ceremony from its own home. People cannot afford homes, and now they cannot even properly honour our veterans. Will the Prime Minister finally admit that after eight years, he has no plan to fix what he has broken and that he is just not worth the cost?
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  • Oct/3/23 4:15:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadian veterans have spent their lives serving and sacrificing for our freedoms, and they were left to watch in horror as a Nazi soldier was recognized in the House. When veterans ask for basic care, the Prime Minister tells them they are asking for more than he can give. Now, he would have veterans believe that basic vetting for Nazis is also asking more than he can give. When will the Prime Minister finally be accountable and apologize to veterans?
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  • Jun/12/23 2:04:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the world watched with dread in 1990 as Saddam Hussein launched an unprovoked invasion of Kuwait. Thousands of Canadians were part of the international coalition that resisted that lawless invasion, fighting to drive out enemy forces and to restore Kuwaiti sovereignty. The evil of a tyrant was opposed by the valour of those who fought in the Persian Gulf, and because of it, Kuwait remains an independent country to this day, yet also to this day, unlike most of our allies, the Canadian government refuses to recognize Gulf War veterans as having provided wartime service. It certainly was war, and any of our Gulf veterans who stood on the front line, putting life and limb in jeopardy to defend freedom, can provide their first-hand testimony to that fact. These heroes deserve our heartfelt gratitude and our recognition of their service in defence of liberty and Canadian values. I thank all those who served in the Persian Gulf War, and to all of our courageous Canadian veterans.
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  • Feb/15/23 6:06:38 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-39 
Madam Speaker, I am glad the member raised this because it is really important to understand we are talking about this kind of slippery slope we are leading down when we talk about expanding this into mental health. I mean, there are many veterans in this country who struggle because of the service they have given this country. They struggle with psychological injuries, mental injuries, and PTSD. They may feel that, if they go to Veterans Affairs, which is where they need to go to get the help they need, there is a chance that, instead, they might be counselled on how they could end their life. This has happened. We know of at least six cases where it has happened, and who knows how many others there might be. However, if a veteran has to feel that way about going to Veterans Affairs, might that mean they will not get the help they need? We should never be in a situation where a veteran feels they cannot get the help they need from the government.
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  • Feb/15/23 5:55:27 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-39 
Madam Speaker, we have seen how slippery this slope has become with what I would call a botched expansion of MAID by the Liberal government. A few short years ago, MAID was seen as a procedure that would be used in exceptional circumstances and that would require very strict criteria to be placed around it. Now MAID is being administered under increasingly questionable and concerning circumstances. The criteria has become looser and is wildly subjective, and many of the safeguards that once existed seem to have evaporated. The recent scandal at Veterans Affairs around medical assistance in dying has revealed how bad the Liberals rushed and mismanaged it, and, I would say, how careless the expansion of MAID has become. Since Canada's inception, our men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces have fought and sacrificed to defend freedoms here at home and all around the world. Whether that be on the ground, in the air or at sea, they have done so with valour and distinction. In doing so, many of them endure physical, psychological or other injuries during their service. There is nothing that we as Canadians can do to fully repay them for what they have done for Canada, but at the very least, it is incumbent upon us to remember and honour their sacrifices and ensure that when they transition out of service, they are fully supported and cared for as veterans. Sadly, under the Liberal government, Veterans Affairs Canada has fallen into disrepair. I have heard from many veterans that Veterans Affairs Canada feels more like an insurance company focused on reducing its financial liability and placing an unfair onus on veterans to have to prove their disabilities or illnesses over and over again. I can think of a lot of examples, but one of the worst examples I can think of is a veteran I met who is in a wheelchair. He is missing both of his legs from his time serving our country, and every single year, he has to prove to Veterans Affairs that he is still missing his legs. Can anyone imagine what it must feel like for that veteran to prove every single year to Veterans Affairs that he is still missing his legs and is required to have a wheelchair because he served this country? That should never be the case. I can think of another veteran who has been fighting Veterans Affairs Canada for years to have a wheelchair lift installed in her home. She is in a wheelchair because of her service, and she simply wants a wheelchair lift installed in her home. She has faced repeated delays and denials, and she still does not have the wheelchair lift she needs in order to access her home. She is forced to crawl across her driveway and up and down her stairs because of that. Is that what a veteran deserves after a life of service? When I thought about the context there, I was that much more alarmed and disturbed when Global News broke a story last summer about an anonymous veteran who had been pressured to consider medical assistance in dying by Veterans Affairs Canada. We learned that the veteran had gone to Veterans Affairs Canada seeking help and support for injuries that he sustained while he was serving in our armed forces. Initially, he was experiencing positive improvements in his mental and physical health. To him and his family, that must have been very promising. Then he got a call from a Veterans Affairs service agent who suggested that he consider medical assistance in dying. The service agent brought the suggestion up repeatedly, even after the veteran asked her to stop. The service agent further asserted that she had helped another veteran successfully access medical assistance in dying and that the veteran had gone through with the procedure and was now deceased. In describing how she helped this veteran access medical assistance in dying, she concluded that it was preferable to traditional forms of suicide, like, as she said, “blowing [your] brains out all over the wall or driving [your] car into something.” After learning about those accusations, the Conservatives demanded that the Minister of Veterans Affairs and his officials come before the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs and answer for those appalling accusations. The minister came to the committee about this disturbing incident and indicated that it was, in his claim, isolated to one employee and was not indicative of a pattern of behaviour or a systemic issue. In fact, between the minister and his officials, they described the incident as isolated six different times. However, later in that very same meeting, they admitted that there was a second case involving the same employee. That did not quite seem right either, so we asked the minister and his officials to come back to the committee, and the very night before the minister came back to testify that second time, another anonymous veteran came forward. He told the Operation Tango Romeo Trauma Recovery podcast that he too had been offered medical assistance in dying by Veterans Affairs Canada and that he too had felt pressured. This employee told the veteran, in the veteran's recollection, that they could help end his suffering because they had helped someone else end their suffering. The next day at the veterans affairs committee, the minister confirmed that he was now aware of four cases involving one employee, but those did not include the allegations that were made the evening before on the Operation Tango Romeo podcast. Now we are talking about a situation where, after being told it was an isolated incident, we are aware of five different instances of this happening with two different Veterans Affairs employees at minimum. When we called on the Minister of Veterans Affairs to fire the employee who was involved in this, he refused to answer the questions, only saying instead that this employee was no longer in direct contact with veterans. However, it got worse from there. Another veteran, Christine Gauthier, came to testify before the veterans affairs committee on something completely unrelated, but she revealed that she too had been offered medical assistance in dying. She was simply trying to get some help for her home to have a lift installed. Then, unprompted, a suggestion was made by another Veterans Affairs employee that if her pain was so unbearable, MAID was something she could consider as an option. In private conversations since then, I have learned of at least a couple of other veterans who have been offered MAID, so that makes about eight veterans and about four different employees, at minimum, whom we are aware of. This whole thing has gone down a very bizarre trail, and we get repeated denials. The minister came out at one point and said, after he had admitted there were four cases, that Veterans Affairs has never offered this. Then, the very next day, he told us they fired the employee who was involved in the four cases. It is a story that no one on that side of the House can seem to get straight, and it is really concerning. Those are the kinds of inconsistencies that we are seeing. When veterans go to Veterans Affairs Canada looking for help, support and assistance, whether with physical injuries or mental injuries, they should feel comfortable and safe when they are dealing with Veterans Affairs. There should be a level of trust there. However, instead of being offered help with things they need to help them live their lives, they are being told that maybe it would be better if they just went off and died. That is a pretty sad situation. Veterans are being betrayed by the very people and institutions they are supposed to be able to trust, and that creates further damage. That creates what is called sanctuary trauma, and that can further isolate veterans and further prevent them from wanting to get the help they need. I hope a long, hard look at this is taken in the next year. If the Liberal government cannot even stop its own employees from pushing MAID on veterans, how can it assure Canadians that the necessary safeguards can be put in place to protect vulnerable people from being pressured into accessing medical assistance in dying?
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  • Nov/3/22 11:10:06 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in his remarks, the Liberal member made the comment that one homeless veteran is one too many. I certainly agree with him on that, but it is everything that came after that which I disagree with. He mentioned all kinds of dollar figures they are spending on studies and things like that. It is not a question of more money being spent on studies. This is a question of will. It is time for the Liberal government to take action instead of talking about the problem. There are 5,000 homeless veterans and we have almost $1 billion in lapsed funding this year. How much of that lapsed funding was in these programs? When will the Liberal government stop keeping our veterans out in the cold and take action to address this issue, rather than study it and talk about it?
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  • Nov/3/22 10:28:54 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague on the delays in service for francophone veterans. There is no doubt. It has been very clear that francophones are, in fact, receiving even worse service than anglophones. I will condemn that, but even more importantly, I will condemn the fact that the government is leaving veterans out in the cold. It is leaving them to wait for two years, in many cases, to even get their benefit applications processed. That is completely unacceptable, and the Liberal government should be ashamed of itself for the way it is treating our veterans and our veterans' families.
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  • Nov/3/22 10:26:55 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am well aware of the fact that the Liberal government likes to make announcements, put out press releases and try to pretend like it is doing something. That is what we have seen from the Liberal government. This is another great example. It makes announcements about all kinds of money it is going to put into Veterans Affairs, but it does not spend it. A report just came out this week about almost a billion dollars in lapsed funding this year. That is money that was set aside to spend on programs for veterans that the government did not spend. The government has certainly been accused many times, and rightly so, of spending far too much money, but one area where it should never save money is on our veterans. When there is money that has been put out there for veterans, when there is almost a billion dollars in lapsed funding sitting around while veterans' needs are not being filled, that is not providing service to veterans and their families. That is a press release designed to fool the Canadian public into believing the government cares when it clearly does not care about veterans or their families.
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  • Nov/3/22 10:24:20 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the member for his service to our country. That is something the Liberal government has failed to do in its actions. I am glad he highlighted there are so many groups. He mentioned one in his riding, but there are so many groups across the country that are picking up the slack. They are filling the needs the Liberal government is not ensuring are being filled. I am proud of so many Canadians who are doing just that. However, they should not need to do that. The government should ensure those needs are being provided for. I will give an example. I mentioned earlier the training needed for employees at Veterans Affairs to ensure we never have another instance of suggesting to a veteran that maybe they should consider assisted suicide. There is an organization called Wounded Warriors, and it has the ability to provide that training tomorrow. The government is aware that could be the case, but it is not engaging in that. This is a situation where the government is not doing enough to serve the needs of our veterans, and Canadians and organizations across this country are having to step up to make sure veterans have their needs filled. They are paying for veterans to get the mental health supports and physical supports they need. The government is not doing it, so people are stepping up across the country to make sure it happens.
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  • Nov/3/22 10:12:55 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I move that the first report of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, presented to the House on Tuesday, March 1, be concurred in. In May 2019, the veterans affairs committee published a report entitled “Moving Towards Ending Homelessness Among Veterans”. Then, after two elections and two Parliaments and more than two full years later, with no government response to that report, the veterans affairs committee published another report, again entitled “Moving Towards Ending Homelessness Among Veterans”, in June 2021. In between that time, a motion was also moved in the House of Commons, in June 2019, indicating that the House should affirm that it wants to end veterans' homelessness, with a date of 2025 to see it end. It seems to me that we have a government that continues to talk and talk, but absolutely no action has happened from 2019 until present. We are talking more than three years later and we still have no action. We are still moving toward ending homelessness among veterans and it does not seem like we are moving very quickly. It does not seem like the Liberal government is moving very quickly. In fact, I do not think it is moving at all. That is why we are seeking to move concurrence in this report today. I will mention that I will be splitting my time with the member for Barrie—Innisfil. We have a government that received a very thorough report about the need to end homelessness among veterans from a parliamentary committee. It gave no response, and two elections later there is still nothing happening. That is why the report was moved by the veterans affairs committee and we are discussing it today. Again, it just seems like under the government, we keep hearing it is going to do things. We keep hearing announcements in press releases, but there is never any action. The veterans who served this country made sacrifices, and in some cases very significant sacrifices with very significant physical and psychological injuries. They were prepared to serve this country at a moment's notice. They did serve this country and have suffered injury as a result. We have a duty and the government has a duty to ensure that we care for them. We must ensure that their needs are taken care of. We have heard that we probably have in the neighbourhood of 5,000 veterans in this country who are homeless. That does not sound like we have a government that is caring for them and ensuring their needs are met. There should never be reports of a veteran being homeless or needing food. I know there are many food banks dedicated specifically to veterans out there in this country. That should never be the case, but under the Liberal government, it just seems to be getting worse and worse, with no action being taken. The Liberal government is failing the veterans who gave this country what we have today. When veterans go to Veterans Affairs because they are in a crisis or have needs, they are met with layers of bureaucracy and endless wait times and processing times for their disability applications and pension applications. A service standard is required to be met, and that standard has not been met in seven years, not once since the Liberal government took office. The last time the service standard was met was in the last year of the previous Conservative government. The Liberal government has even failed to meet its own internal service standards. What we are seeing now in many cases is that two years is not an untypical amount of time for veterans to wait for service. They say that the average wait time is 43 weeks to get an application processed for veterans' benefits. In many cases, veterans are waiting two years, and there are even cases where applications have taken as long as 10 years to get processed. This is clearly not a government that takes ensuring veterans are cared for very seriously. There have been a number of reports that have indicated such to the government. The Auditor General has indicated it in a report. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has indicated it in a report, and the veterans affairs committee itself has indicated it in numerous reports. The recent Auditor General's report said the government's “actions did not reduce overall wait times for eligible veterans. The department was still a long way from meeting its service standard. Implementation of initiatives was slow. Data to measure and improvements were lacking.” In other words, it is failing on every single measure. It is even more concerning that less than half of first-time mental health-related applications are being processed within the already lengthy 16-week period provided. The Auditor General calls that a significant deterioration of the processing times of the previous Conservative government. We are talking about mental health crises in some cases. What is happening instead? Instead, Veterans Affairs employees are suggesting to veterans that maybe they should consider assisted suicide. We have heard about the case that has been in the media, and we heard about it at the veterans affairs committee, where assisted suicide was offered to a veteran who did not ask for it. This veteran was in crisis and went to the government looking for help, and it was suggested to the veteran that maybe he should consider killing himself. Even when he said no several times, this Veterans Affairs employee continued to pressure him to consider it. The comment made, according to testimony from another veteran at the veterans affairs committee, from this employee to the veteran was that accessing assisted suicide would be “'...better than blowing your brains out against the wall.'” Can anyone imagine that one of our veterans had that happen to them? What is the Liberal government's response? It is not much, actually. It seems like it is trying to cover its own butt. Essentially, it tries to deny responsibility. When the minister was at committee, he continued to defer the responsibility for this to his officials. He seems to be completely removed from the operation of the department he is responsible for. I forgot to mention that I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Barrie—Innisfil. There was no apology offered to this veteran and no indication that anything was being done. Veterans Affairs said it was going to provide some training, but it could not give any indication when that would happen or how that would happen. I certainly did not leave feeling assured, and I know the many veterans across this country I have heard from certainly did not feel assured that the government was not going to do anything to ensure that it would never happen again. We have often heard a saying from veterans, which is “Deny, delay, die”, the triple d's. That is really what veterans feel they get from Veterans Affairs. They get denied the services they need. There are delays in processing times, and now they are being told that maybe it would be better if they just died. We seem to have a minister who is asleep at the wheel. Our veterans pay the price for that. Things are just so backward right now. Veterans and their families served this country. They sacrificed for this country, and we owe it to them to ensure they are getting the services they need. We owe it to them to ensure they are not left out in the cold, and that is actually what the government is doing. The Liberal government is actually leaving veterans out in the cold. There are 5,000 homeless veterans in this country, and the government is leaving them out in the cold instead of ensuring their needs are protected. There have been parliamentary reports, PBO reports, Auditor General reports and reports from the veterans affairs committee, but the government is doing nothing to make sure our veterans are cared for.
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  • Nov/2/22 4:10:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 66,349 is the number of Canadians who laid down their lives during the First World War. The number of Canadians who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Second World War is 44,090. The number of Canadians who gave their lives during the Korean War is 516. The number of Canadian Armed Forces members who lost their lives in Afghanistan is 158. Those are the numbers, the statistics, but they are not just numbers or statistics. They represent real people who laid down their lives for our freedoms. They left behind families, who mourned them. They were someone's brother or sister, son or daughter, mother or father. They were young men and women who had hopes and dreams that will forever go unrealized. They did it for all of us so that we can continue to live in freedom. They did it voluntarily, in the ultimate act of courage and sacrifice. It is a debt that we can never repay. In much the same way, there is never enough we can do or say to thank those who served this country and came back forever changed. Whether their injuries are physical, psychological or emotional, they leave deep scars and often have a lasting impact on their relationships, on their families and on their futures. We owe it to them to listen, to seek to always do what is right by them and to ensure that what they fought for is never taken for granted. We pay tribute to them for their loyal service and sacrifice. It is a great honour for me to be here today to express, on behalf of the official opposition, Canada's Conservatives and all Canadians, our appreciation, admiration and deep respect for them and to promise that we will always be there for them, like they were there for us. Now, If I can, for a moment I will speak to a date that all Canadians should know well: April 9, 1917. It is said that from a Canadian perspective, World War One was both our greatest sorrow and our finest hour, and perhaps no battle symbolized that better than Vimy Ridge. During four days in April 1917, four divisions of Canadians, fighting together for the very first time as a unified force, did what many felt was impossible: They took Vimy Ridge. It was our coming of age as a nation. It was a defining moment in Canadian history. As Canadian Brigadier-General A.E. Ross said of the victory, “[I]n those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.” However, we should remember that while it was our finest hour, it was also our greatest sorrow. Not only was it our greatest victory, but April 9, 1917, was also the bloodiest day in Canadian history. Over 2,500 Canadians gave their lives that day. If Canadians ever have the chance to visit Vimy Ridge, which is something I wish all Canadians could do, I would ask them to do something: Take a few moments to reach down and feel the grass. That is the life that grows from dirt and mud soaked by the courageous blood shed by young men in the cause of freedom. April 9, 1917, is a date we should all know well, as are August 19, 1942, the Dieppe raid; June 6, 1944, when Canadians landed on Juno Beach during D-Day; and April 24, 1951, when Canadians held the line in the Kapyong Valley by calling in an artillery strike on their own location to hit the enemy soldiers among them. These are all significant dates in Canadian history and they are significant dates for the world. On these dates, Canadians helped shape the course of world history. They are events that we should all take pride in, just as all Canadians should take pride in the valour of fellow Canadians who have served and sacrificed all over the globe in the time since, in UN missions in places such as Croatia, Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Cyprus, Kosovo, the Congo, the Golan Heights and many others; in Vietnam; in the Persian Gulf; in Libya; in Afghanistan, which was the longest deployment of our troops since World War II; and right up to the present day in Operation Impact. All of the Canadian men and women who served in these places and others should know that their fellow Canadians owe them so much. I stand here to acknowledge that governments can do better. We must do better. It will not be enough until every single veteran feels heard and understood, supported and cared for, appreciated and honoured. Much needs to be done at the political level, and that conversation must and will continue because no veteran should suffer in silence, not know where to turn or feel like the government is not there for them. If I can, I will speak directly to all of Canada’s veterans. We must acknowledge the profound impact that their service all too often has. We must be there to care for their injuries, especially those we cannot see and may not understand. We have to ensure the necessary supports are there for their transition to civilian life and to support their families. Most of all, we need to listen and seek to understand so we can serve them as they have served us. We all have a role to play in showing our respect. We should express that respect at all times and in all places. Whether big or small, every gesture and every show of support counts. It is important to wear the poppy, which is the symbol of remembrance, and to participate in local Remembrance Day activities. It is not just during one event or one day or one week that we should be thinking about our veterans. We need to remember them every day of our lives. If we were to ask any of our veterans to tell us the single most important thing we could do to repay them, I am sure they would all say the same thing: to never take for granted that which they fought for, our freedoms. Please join me and my colleagues in Canada’s Conservative Party in making that commitment today. We pledge to uphold those freedoms. It is how we will honour their memories, thank them for their service and show our respect for their sacrifice. Freedom came at all costs and at all costs we must ensure it is maintained. At the going down of the sun and in the morningWe will remember them.
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