The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - In Canada, we owe the world to our men and women in uniform.

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm

00:00:17.460 your host, Jamie Schmell, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Caworthal Lakes Brock. New

00:00:21.020 content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time on today's show, The Sad States,

00:00:26.540 that is the Department of Veterans Affairs. To talk about that and much, much more, we

00:00:30.540 have Blake Richards, the Member of Parliament for Banff Airdrie, also the critic for Veterans

00:00:34.580 Affairs. Thanks for coming on the show. Yeah, thanks for having me, Jamie. Yeah, we're going

00:00:37.660 to be putting out some pretty interesting content here today that may touch on some heartstrings

00:00:42.640 of many. So let's get right to it because I think probably the most important relationship,

00:00:49.940 one of them that the government at least should have, would be with our veterans. And unfortunately,

00:00:54.020 as you're pointing out in committee, a lot of the hard work you're doing is exposing the

00:00:57.860 Liberals for doing, unfortunately, the exact opposite. Yeah, that sadly is true, Jamie. It's

00:01:04.640 heartbreaking. You know, every single day in this job, I hear from veterans who, you know,

00:01:11.460 fought for this country, they served this country, and, you know, they're just looking for a little

00:01:16.540 bit of help to deal with physical injuries, mental injuries that might have suffered as a result of

00:01:21.600 their service. And they just can't get it. Veterans often talk about this, what they call a triple D

00:01:28.980 policy, you know, deny, delay, die. And they say that Veterans Affairs acts like a insurance company,

00:01:36.500 where they're just trying to find a way to deny the claim, they're trying to find a way to delay it.

00:01:43.220 And, you know, I think veterans, if there's one group of people in this country who've earned the

00:01:50.120 right to be treated a little better than what they are, I think our veterans have got to be the very

00:01:56.060 top of the list. And it's shameful to see how they're being treated.

00:02:01.160 Even I'm hearing it in my writing, outside of what's appearing for a committee that you're dealing

00:02:06.540 with on kind of the larger scale, but even on my local level, I've heard that even when I first

00:02:12.640 started, that it was more about when a veteran submits a claim or tries to advocate for himself

00:02:19.800 or herself, they automatically assume there's going to be a no. It's just assumed it's a no,

00:02:26.360 and they're going to have to go through the deal process.

00:02:28.480 Yeah, it really feels a lot at a time like what, and this is certainly the impression that veterans

00:02:33.180 have, and I don't think they're wrong, is, you know, you put in a claim, and it's, you

00:02:39.680 know, a medical condition that you suffered. I mean, we hear stories all the time of someone

00:02:43.380 who, while they were in the Canadian Armed Forces, diagnosed with an injury of some kind,

00:02:50.400 and then they later, when they leave the forces, they go to Veterans Affairs for help with that

00:02:55.920 very same condition, and Veterans Affairs says, well, prove it to us.

00:02:59.800 Yes.

00:03:00.160 They were diagnosed while they were in the Canadian Armed Forces, and then Veterans Affairs

00:03:05.740 wants them to reprove that, and even if they prove it once, they've got to prove it again

00:03:10.260 the next time they need something, and next year, because they have to show that it's still

00:03:13.920 a condition, and what that does is it leaves veterans to a point where they feel like giving

00:03:20.080 up.

00:03:20.480 Yeah, that's a lot of stress.

00:03:21.680 Instead of just pursuing what they're deserved, and they will. They'll give up because it's just

00:03:28.240 too difficult to go through that process, or it's too much to have to tell the story of

00:03:33.000 how they were injured over and over again. I mean, sometimes these were pretty traumatic

00:03:36.380 incidents, right? And to have to tell that story again and again and again just to get

00:03:41.420 the help that they're entitled to, it's just wrong. It's just wrong.

00:03:45.360 Well, there's that story, I don't know how many months ago, maybe it was a year ago,

00:03:48.960 could have been, I lose track of time sometimes, about the numerous veterans saying they called

00:03:54.500 for help. One in particular that kind of started the headlines and the awareness of this was,

00:04:00.220 I believe, a female soldier, a female veteran, who needed a wheelchair lift because of injuries

00:04:05.860 suffered during her time in the forces. And the person on the other end at Veterans Affairs

00:04:10.580 Canada didn't even bother to say, hey, how can we get you some help? It was, have you

00:04:14.700 considered dying? Have you considered about medical assistance in dying?

00:04:17.780 A hundred percent. You know, this is, I mean, I can tell numerous stories, but the one you

00:04:21.500 mentioned, Christine Gauthier is her name. You know, she's in a wheelchair as a result of an injury,

00:04:27.340 back injury that she suffered during the service. And in order to get in and out of her home,

00:04:34.520 she needs a wheelchair lift. And she's been fighting with Veterans Affairs for years to get that lift. 1.00

00:04:43.920 That she needs. And in the meantime, what she's had to do, every time she wants to leave her house,

00:04:51.240 whether she has to go get groceries or whatever the case might be, she has to drag herself up and

00:04:57.240 down a flight of stairs and across a gravel driveway because she has no way to get her wheelchair up and 0.73

00:05:05.120 down these stairs. That's awful.

00:05:06.820 And like, can you imagine that? You know, and that's what she has to do. And all she was doing

00:05:12.920 was looking for help to be able to live her life in a comfortable way. And Veterans Affairs said to 0.90

00:05:18.900 her, well, you know what, if it's so hard to live, we could help you with dying. And she said, well, no.

00:05:25.960 Yeah, I actually do want to live. I like life.

00:05:28.200 I want help with living my life, not with ending my life. But that is the approach. And, you know,

00:05:34.580 she's one of, unfortunately, several veterans who, you know, had that same experience. You know,

00:05:40.100 I remember the one guy telling me, you know, he was trying to be reassessed because he needed home

00:05:45.480 care for the disability that he was dealing with. And he was, he needed to be 100% disabled. 0.95

00:05:52.120 And I think he was at 98% disabled. So he was looking to be reassessed. And, you know,

00:05:58.140 he had a successful business. He lost it because of the condition. He can't, you know, he just

00:06:01.620 can't function enough, enough, enough of the time. And, and so he was looking for, for that

00:06:07.380 help. And they, and the first question that they asked him when they reassessed him was,

00:06:12.020 was would you like MAID? Well, he didn't understand what MAID was. He didn't know, he, he thought

00:06:17.580 that he, they meant someone to clean his home.

00:06:19.280 Oh, okay. And, and, and so anyways, as it came out, he discovered what they were talking

00:06:24.100 about was medical assistance and dying. And again, his response was, I want to live. I

00:06:29.360 just need some help to, to live my life. I don't need, I don't, I don't want to die. But

00:06:34.340 when you have a situation where those who serve this country and the government is telling them,

00:06:38.860 you know what, if it's so hard. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, why is it hard? Well, it's hard because

00:06:44.200 the government's made it difficult because they won't give them the services they need. And then

00:06:48.120 they say, you know, that we can help you end your life. That's, uh, there's, there's no

00:06:54.540 words for that. There's no words for that. You think on a human level, on the compassionate

00:06:57.980 side, like the person on the other end of the line would, would want to maybe help, maybe

00:07:02.700 offer some alternatives or a pathway to get the approval. Right. But it's, it's more like,

00:07:08.540 I don't really, I don't have, you know, have, if you kill yourself, then that's one less 0.93

00:07:13.500 file on my desk. That's how I'm reading this whole situation. It's disgusting.

00:07:17.360 Sadly, sadly, that's how veterans see it too. I mean, that's, goes back to what I was talking

00:07:20.800 about, that triple D policy, deny, delay, die. Right. If we deny you, we delay you. And

00:07:26.240 ultimately, you know, if, if you're, if you end your life, well, it's one less veteran

00:07:30.940 we have to deal with. And that's, that's the approach that, that they seem to be seeing.

00:07:36.500 And it's, it's sad. And, you know, it's, doesn't have to be that way. I mean, this is such a

00:07:42.720 simple solution in my mind. You know, these are people who served our country. If they've

00:07:46.160 got injuries that, in particular, in many cases, a lot of these injuries are very common to

00:07:50.700 service. You know, I'll give you one example. Hearing loss, tinnitus. This is something that's

00:07:55.740 a very common injury related to someone's service. And yet we're seeing hundreds, thousands

00:08:01.800 of cases every year going to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. And that's a process that

00:08:06.780 they've, they would have already gone through two years of probably appeals and various processes

00:08:12.960 to get to that point. So now you've put the veteran through two years of this to just try

00:08:17.160 to get maybe a hearing aid because they've got a little hearing loss. It's a common service

00:08:21.240 related injury. They get, then get to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board and 94% of the cases

00:08:27.400 when they get to that point are approved. So couldn't we have saved everybody all of that

00:08:33.880 time, all of that effort, all that money, and all that aggravation that you're causing

00:08:37.560 our veterans and just approve them to begin with? Yeah. Well, it seems like common sense

00:08:42.260 to me. You might have to shrink the bureaucracy if there's more yeses than nos. We, well, and

00:08:46.460 I suspect that's got something to do with it. But, you know, common sense, we need common

00:08:51.140 sense back in this country. I agree. Let's get to a couple of videos because we have some

00:08:54.620 long queue here. Let's queue up cup one. It focuses on some of the work you're doing

00:08:58.740 in Parliament and the hard work that you're doing for our veterans here in Canada, but

00:09:02.600 also focuses on some of the problems with the mindset of this Liberal government. So

00:09:06.540 let's play cup one. The toll of war weighs heavily upon our veterans and so it is our duty

00:09:11.580 to honour their sacred contribution and ensure they are cared for. Yet this Prime Minister has

00:09:16.580 told them that they are asking for more than he can give. Why are we still fighting against

00:09:21.940 certain veterans groups in court because they are asking for more than we are able to give

00:09:28.060 right now? And after eight years, we are seeing veterans suffering in record numbers. The Veterans

00:09:32.800 Food Bank in Calgary reports the demand for their services has doubled and they expect their shelves

00:09:37.960 to be empty by the end of the week. Veterans are suffering right now with more and more using

00:09:43.780 food banks and homeless shelters. That comment, they're asking more than what we're prepared to

00:09:49.900 give. $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.

00:10:00.760 Yeah. 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

00:10:11.620 very 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.

00:10:23.620 Of course, yeah. They're always, they're always trying to do better. They're planning. They may be, maybe we've got new ideas.

00:10:27.620 Probably 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.

00:10:41.600 Never 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,

00:11:11.220 if 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.

00:11:26.880 That'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.

00:11:43.780 They 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.

00:12:02.980 Well, 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.

00:12:21.300 I'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.

00:12:29.600 Let me say this, if VAC were a private company, would it survive?

00:12:34.140 Yeah, no, it wouldn't, it wouldn't survive. It really wouldn't.

00:12:36.460 It needs to, first of all, create value. It is so unproductive and inefficient and its customers are very unhappy.

00:12:46.680 I'm not saying that there's things that are broken in Veterans Affairs Canada.

00:12:50.160 In 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. 0.68

00:13:02.360 I am 104% disabled, according to Veterans Affairs, and I cannot get help.

00:13:06.880 I'm not saying that there's things that are broken in Veterans Affairs Canada.

00:13:10.840 It took me almost 10 years to get my pension sorted out.

00:13:14.400 So there's a lot of frustration and futility that goes with trying to navigate through Veterans Affairs.

00:13:20.440 And eventually, it causes soldiers to lose hope and think about taking their lives.

00:13:26.800 And it's the triple D policy, delay, deny, die. 0.83

00:13:30.420 That's, yeah.

00:13:32.740 That's unbelievable.

00:13:33.340 I mean, you saw it over and over in that clip.

00:13:36.340 Every veteran talked about the triple D policy, deny, delay, die.

00:13:41.080 And they all spoke to it.

00:13:42.640 And, you know, you listen to the last veteran there talk about 10 years to process a claim.

00:13:49.420 Sadly, that's not that uncommon.

00:13:52.720 Like, this isn't weeks.

00:13:55.060 This isn't months.

00:13:56.400 This is measured in years, the amount of time that veterans are taking to navigate through these processes.

00:14:01.900 I 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.

00:14:10.660 Or, you know, I can give you another example of a veteran, you know, who's in a wheelchair.

00:14:15.440 He's missing both legs.

00:14:17.840 And every year, Veterans Affairs expects him to prove that he still needs a wheelchair.

00:14:22.780 Like, did they think his legs were going to grow back?

00:14:27.160 Yeah.

00:14:28.260 He lost his legs serving this country.

00:14:30.800 Just help the guy.

00:14:31.840 Where's the common sense?

00:14:32.680 Right?

00:14:33.140 So it's just so frustrating.

00:14:35.220 And, you know, you hear the minister saying, well, nothing's broken.

00:14:40.740 Yeah.

00:14:41.140 How can you say that?

00:14:42.340 Right.

00:14:42.560 When you have veteran after veteran after veteran getting up and saying, I can't get the help I need, it's shameful.

00:14:50.520 And then when you have them go serve, they're paying, they have in some cases pay for their meals, fundraise, try to get better equipment.

00:14:58.840 So they're not supported any step of the way.

00:15:01.280 No, not only that.

00:15:02.760 Like, you know, we haven't even really talked about the number of veterans that are using food banks.

00:15:08.400 You 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.

00:15:20.540 The numbers of veterans that are homeless are, you know, probably in record numbers right now.

00:15:26.880 And it goes so bad that, you know, it speaks to what you just said about the serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:15:32.400 We've got serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces who are living in their cars because they can't afford a place to live.

00:15:39.280 I mean, that's how badly broken things are under this government.

00:15:43.300 I 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.

00:15:53.880 But 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.

00:16:03.400 Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more.

00:16:04.640 Blake, unfortunately, we're running short on time.

00:16:07.160 I wanted to touch on also the homeless issue that we're seeing and kind of dive in deeper on that.

00:16:13.540 The guests always get the final word.

00:16:15.200 Maybe you want to touch on that or something else, but the floor is yours.

00:16:18.100 Well, I think it really comes down to this, Jamie.

00:16:20.040 I mean, these people served our country.

00:16:22.180 They were willing to lay their lives on the line for this country.

00:16:28.080 They fought for the freedoms that we all enjoy.

00:16:30.800 And 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.

00:16:52.340 I think every Canadian would agree, we want to see that happen.

00:16:55.480 So let's make it happen, right?

00:16:57.600 And veterans shouldn't wait years to deal with the process.

00:17:01.440 They shouldn't be so frustrated with the process that they just feel like giving up.

00:17:06.640 They shouldn't be in a situation where they've got a government telling them, well, if it's so difficult, we can help you end your life.

00:17:12.340 Like, that kind of stuff, there is no excuse for.

00:17:15.940 And we simply have to do better by our veterans.

00:17:20.040 And, you know, frankly, we need a new government.

00:17:23.780 We need a common-sense, conservative government to come in that will show our veterans the respect that they deserve.

00:17:31.420 Blake, thank you very much for your time.

00:17:33.040 Absolutely, thank you.

00:17:33.220 I really appreciate it.

00:17:33.860 It was a hard topic, but you're doing a great job on that file.

00:17:36.920 Blake Richards, Member of Parliament for Banff Airdriebe.

00:17:39.560 We appreciate his time, also the Veterans Critic.

00:17:41.420 We appreciate yours, as well.

00:17:43.200 I guarantee you, although the topic was difficult, you're not hearing in the mainstream media.

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00:18:11.720 All right.

00:18:12.940 Thank you.

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The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - February 21, 2024

In Canada, we owe the world to our men and women in uniform.

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