00:05:06.820And like, can you imagine that? You know, and that's what she has to do. And all she was doing
00:05:12.920was looking for help to be able to live her life in a comfortable way. And Veterans Affairs said to
00:05:18.900her, well, you know what, if it's so hard to live, we could help you with dying. And she said, well, no.
00:05:25.960Yeah, I actually do want to live. I like life.
00:05:28.200I want help with living my life, not with ending my life. But that is the approach. And, you know,
00:05:34.580she's one of, unfortunately, several veterans who, you know, had that same experience. You know,
00:05:40.100I remember the one guy telling me, you know, he was trying to be reassessed because he needed home
00:05:45.480care for the disability that he was dealing with. And he was, he needed to be 100% disabled.
00:05:52.120And I think he was at 98% disabled. So he was looking to be reassessed. And, you know,
00:05:58.140he had a successful business. He lost it because of the condition. He can't, you know, he just
00:06:01.620can't function enough, enough, enough of the time. And, and so he was looking for, for that
00:06:07.380help. And they, and the first question that they asked him when they reassessed him was,
00:06:12.020was would you like MAID? Well, he didn't understand what MAID was. He didn't know, he, he thought
00:06:17.580that he, they meant someone to clean his home.
00:06:19.280Oh, okay. And, and, and so anyways, as it came out, he discovered what they were talking
00:06:24.100about was medical assistance and dying. And again, his response was, I want to live. I
00:06:29.360just need some help to, to live my life. I don't need, I don't, I don't want to die. But
00:06:34.340when you have a situation where those who serve this country and the government is telling them,
00:06:38.860you know what, if it's so hard. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, why is it hard? Well, it's hard because
00:06:44.200the government's made it difficult because they won't give them the services they need. And then
00:06:48.120they say, you know, that we can help you end your life. That's, uh, there's, there's no
00:06:54.540words for that. There's no words for that. You think on a human level, on the compassionate
00:06:57.980side, like the person on the other end of the line would, would want to maybe help, maybe
00:07:02.700offer some alternatives or a pathway to get the approval. Right. But it's, it's more like,
00:07:08.540I don't really, I don't have, you know, have, if you kill yourself, then that's one less
00:07:13.500file on my desk. That's how I'm reading this whole situation. It's disgusting.
00:07:17.360Sadly, sadly, that's how veterans see it too. I mean, that's, goes back to what I was talking
00:07:20.800about, that triple D policy, deny, delay, die. Right. If we deny you, we delay you. And
00:07:26.240ultimately, you know, if, if you're, if you end your life, well, it's one less veteran
00:07:30.940we have to deal with. And that's, that's the approach that, that they seem to be seeing.
00:07:36.500And it's, it's sad. And, you know, it's, doesn't have to be that way. I mean, this is such a
00:07:42.720simple solution in my mind. You know, these are people who served our country. If they've
00:07:46.160got injuries that, in particular, in many cases, a lot of these injuries are very common to
00:07:50.700service. You know, I'll give you one example. Hearing loss, tinnitus. This is something that's
00:07:55.740a very common injury related to someone's service. And yet we're seeing hundreds, thousands
00:08:01.800of cases every year going to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. And that's a process that
00:08:06.780they've, they would have already gone through two years of probably appeals and various processes
00:08:12.960to get to that point. So now you've put the veteran through two years of this to just try
00:08:17.160to get maybe a hearing aid because they've got a little hearing loss. It's a common service
00:08:21.240related injury. They get, then get to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board and 94% of the cases
00:08:27.400when they get to that point are approved. So couldn't we have saved everybody all of that
00:08:33.880time, all of that effort, all that money, and all that aggravation that you're causing
00:08:37.560our veterans and just approve them to begin with? Yeah. Well, it seems like common sense
00:08:42.260to me. You might have to shrink the bureaucracy if there's more yeses than nos. We, well, and
00:08:46.460I suspect that's got something to do with it. But, you know, common sense, we need common
00:08:51.140sense back in this country. I agree. Let's get to a couple of videos because we have some
00:08:54.620long queue here. Let's queue up cup one. It focuses on some of the work you're doing
00:08:58.740in Parliament and the hard work that you're doing for our veterans here in Canada, but
00:09:02.600also focuses on some of the problems with the mindset of this Liberal government. So
00:09:06.540let's play cup one. The toll of war weighs heavily upon our veterans and so it is our duty
00:09:11.580to honour their sacred contribution and ensure they are cared for. Yet this Prime Minister has
00:09:16.580told them that they are asking for more than he can give. Why are we still fighting against
00:09:21.940certain veterans groups in court because they are asking for more than we are able to give
00:09:28.060right now? And after eight years, we are seeing veterans suffering in record numbers. The Veterans
00:09:32.800Food Bank in Calgary reports the demand for their services has doubled and they expect their shelves
00:09:37.960to be empty by the end of the week. Veterans are suffering right now with more and more using
00:09:43.780food banks and homeless shelters. That comment, they're asking more than what we're prepared to
00:09:49.900give. $54 million on a Rive scam. $150 million in a green slush fund. The list goes on and on and on, but they don't have any extra money for our veterans.
00:10:00.760Yeah. Yeah. Isn't it sad? Isn't it sad? You know, we had, we had, uh, recently the Veterans Affairs Minister came to our Veterans Affairs Committee and, uh, and was asking her about this
00:10:11.620very thing. And, um, you know, the, the response was just incredible to me. You know, like, well, we're, we're, we're, we're trying to do better. We're, we're working on it. We, and, and I hear that every time a minister comes to the committee.
00:10:23.620Of course, yeah. They're always, they're always trying to do better. They're planning. They may be, maybe we've got new ideas.
00:10:27.620Probably lots of plans and graphs and charts. And yeah, and they, they always say they're trying to do better. They always say they've got this new program that they announce and they never deliver on. They've always got new staff they're going to hire. They've, it's always some, some, some, but it's new.
00:10:41.600Never about the results that they're delivering for veterans. It's, that's the one thing that's always missing is what are the results for veterans? And then, and that never changes. The results are never there. And it's just, it's just sad, you know, because it, because it's, it's a very simple solution. If you, if you, if you, where there's a will, there's a way, right? If you want to be there to support our veterans, you can be there. You don't need all these other things. You just need to deliver on, on what they've been promised, which is if, if you go to,
00:11:11.220if you go to, to serve this country overseas or anywhere in the world, you suffer an injury, whether that be a physical injury, a mental injury, our duty as a country is to take care of that and make sure that you're, that you've got the support you need.
00:11:26.880That's all that veterans expect. And I don't think it's anything they shouldn't expect. And all we need to do is just deliver on that. You know, it's, I think it's pretty clear to everybody that we've, you know, the, the will is just lacking with this government.
00:11:43.780They don't, they don't, they don't value or, or appreciate the service that veterans have given this country. It's that simple. And I hate to say it. I really do hate to say it, Jamie, because it's, it's sad to, to think that that's the case, but it really is. And the only way we're going to get veterans what they deserve is, is, is, is a, is a new government that has some common sense.
00:12:02.980Well, let's clear up cut two. Let's see the Minister of Veterans Affairs in action at committee, kind of building on what your point earlier was. This, again, we're, we're touching on some heartstrings in this, in this program. Some of this might be a little hard to watch, but let's play cut two and we'll talk about it in a second.
00:12:21.300I'm not saying that there's things that are broken in Veterans Affairs Canada. I'm not saying that there's things that are broken in Veterans Affairs Canada.
00:12:29.600Let me say this, if VAC were a private company, would it survive?
00:12:34.140Yeah, no, it wouldn't, it wouldn't survive. It really wouldn't.
00:12:36.460It needs to, first of all, create value. It is so unproductive and inefficient and its customers are very unhappy.
00:12:46.680I'm not saying that there's things that are broken in Veterans Affairs Canada.
00:12:50.160In the veterans community, we have a joke that VAC operates under the following premise, the three Ds, deny, delay and die. Deny claim, delay the appeal and hope the veteran dies or gives up fighting.
00:13:02.360I am 104% disabled, according to Veterans Affairs, and I cannot get help.
00:13:06.880I'm not saying that there's things that are broken in Veterans Affairs Canada.
00:13:10.840It took me almost 10 years to get my pension sorted out.
00:13:14.400So there's a lot of frustration and futility that goes with trying to navigate through Veterans Affairs.
00:13:20.440And eventually, it causes soldiers to lose hope and think about taking their lives.
00:13:26.800And it's the triple D policy, delay, deny, die.
00:13:56.400This is measured in years, the amount of time that veterans are taking to navigate through these processes.
00:14:01.900I mean, many veterans are now finding that they feel like they've got to go hire a lawyer just to navigate a process that's supposed to be there for them to get the help they need.
00:14:10.660Or, you know, I can give you another example of a veteran, you know, who's in a wheelchair.
00:15:02.760Like, you know, we haven't even really talked about the number of veterans that are using food banks.
00:15:08.400You know, in Edmonton, they just recently reported that in the last three years, the usage by veterans of the Food Bank in Edmonton has quadrupled in the last three years.
00:15:20.540The numbers of veterans that are homeless are, you know, probably in record numbers right now.
00:15:26.880And it goes so bad that, you know, it speaks to what you just said about the serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:15:32.400We've got serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces who are living in their cars because they can't afford a place to live.
00:15:39.280I mean, that's how badly broken things are under this government.
00:15:43.300I mean, those things speak to inflation and the cost of living, which, you know, everybody in Canada is suffering as a result of the actions of this government and what that's caused.
00:15:53.880But when you talk about people who are serving this country in uniform and they can't even afford a place to live, they're living in their cars, there's no excuse for that.
00:16:15.200Maybe you want to touch on that or something else, but the floor is yours.
00:16:18.100Well, I think it really comes down to this, Jamie.
00:16:20.040I mean, these people served our country.
00:16:22.180They were willing to lay their lives on the line for this country.
00:16:28.080They fought for the freedoms that we all enjoy.
00:16:30.800And I think every Canadian could look at that and say, we want to make sure that they're taken care of, whether that be to make sure that they've got, you know, the training they need to enter a private sector career following their service, whether it be helping them deal with a mental or physical injury that they have as a result of their service.
00:16:52.340I think every Canadian would agree, we want to see that happen.