Our Veterans are fighting battles at home
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Summary
On today's show, we are talking about the Liberal government's treatment of veterans, and why it's not very good. To talk about this and so much more, we bring on the one and only Fraser Tomy, the Member of Parliament for Moose Jaw, Lake Centre.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm
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your host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Caworthal Lakes, with you
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content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. Don't forget to like, comment,
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subscribe and share this program. Tell your friends. They can download it on platforms
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like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play and Spotify. You name it, it is out there. On today's show,
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we are talking about the Liberal government's treatments of veterans and, shocking, it's not
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very good. To talk about this and so much more, we bring on the one and only Fraser Tomy, the Member
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of Parliament for Moose Jaw, Lake Centre, Lanigan. I have to get your writing straight, but thanks for
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coming on the show. Yeah, well thank you so much for having us here. It's been four years, Jamie,
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and I've been elected and this is like the first time I've been able... Everybody talks about your
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podcast. I've even watched it, but I just... I'm so sorry. I feel bad, but there is a reason.
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So, let's cue cut one. Fraser used to be the mayor of Moose Jaw and this commercial that I'm about to
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tell you, the reason why I didn't invite him on, was taken during COVID. Remember, people were
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selectively able to travel and politicians were getting away, some getting caught for it,
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and so you came up with this beautiful marketing idea. I've got to give you credit and your team
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Are you a Canadian politician taking heat for going away at Christmas? Listen up. I'm Fraser
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Tomy, Mayor of Moose Jaw, and I'm notoriously lucky because I don't need to take the heat to get away
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from it all. Why? Thank you. Because we have it all right here in Canada's most notorious city.
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Well, see, you can understand why. Yeah. Well, we, you know, here in Ottawa,
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we have the most congenial MPs, but we don't have the best dressed or the best undressed.
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You take it away. Yeah, yeah. You take it away. You're like, that was impressive.
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I would have had a fighting chance, eh? And it did prove a pretty, pretty good tourism boost
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from your, from your city's perspective. Yeah. And it went international, did it not? Yeah.
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Yeah. A thousand dollar video brought in over $5 million worth of, and plus, you know,
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of tourism and tourism dollars, right? That was right after the pandemic and, and, you know,
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people were hurting and, and Moose Jaw is a tourism city. So, you know, we, we did something a little
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bit creative and that was kind of after the war with Norway of having the world's tallest moose,
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which was an international thing. So we had some fun, but, you know, I still did my job and, you know,
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took it seriously, but we were able to have fun because we did good things when- Yeah. A hundred
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percent. And you could tell it was, it was fun. And the fact that how many politicians, mayors,
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especially would do something like that to put themselves out there like that, right? Yeah.
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Not very many. So good on you. Yeah. Maybe I've got a screw loose or something there, but, uh,
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no shame, you know, the Scottish heritage in me. Yeah. No kidding. Yeah. That, that commercial, it was,
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it was featured on some late night talk shows on the US, wasn't it? Because I remember,
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that's where I learned about it. Yeah. Colbert and, and a few others. It was like, yeah,
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it was funny because I was being interviewed by BBC and, you know, CNN and, you know, all the major,
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you know, news medias and, and it would be like, I'd be up all hours because there are different time
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zones and things like that. So it was fun. Yeah. We had a good time. And, uh, and it really,
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it was for the businesses. It was for the people that are, you know, that are, and you know what,
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you'd get a little bit of negative flack and saying, well, you know, what are you doing? But
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when people realized what it created, right? Yes. And what it was bringing. And, um, you know,
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the biggest, you know, driver of an economy is, is people spending money and, and getting,
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getting them out. And that's what we wanted to do and, uh, and have fun, right? Make fun of the
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politicians that were hypocrites and going away to Hawaii or wherever and, and, uh, and telling
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everybody stay, yeah, you stay at home. And, uh, by the way, uh, you know, and they've got the,
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the little screen in the background there. Yeah, that's right. The blurred out screen.
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I'm going to call that out. Well, it actually worked out perfectly. Well done for that. But
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also Canada's most notorious cities. Lots of people don't know what that's about. Maybe a quick.
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Yeah. So, uh, we were considered, uh, the friendly city, but there's like 150 friendly cities
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in North America. True. And I wanted to, you know, really capitalize on the history of Moose Jaw. And
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Al Capone used to hide out in the tunnels of Moose Jaw. And, uh, I had met with John Sleeman breweries,
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you know, and talked about, you know, uh, you know, our, our history. And, um, you know,
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we came up with Canada's most notorious city and it really has taken off and it's,
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it's been a driver for, for tourism as well. So, uh, you know, we, uh, we have a little bit of fun.
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It's good. It's a good city. It's a, I'm, I'm proud of that community and I'm proud to represent the
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whole riding of Moose Jaw Lake Center Atlantic. And there's some beauties and gems within that riding.
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It's five square kilometers bigger than Switzerland. They may have better chocolate,
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but we've got better hockey players. And that's what counts. And a bigger Moose apparently.
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And a bigger Moose. The world's tallest Moose, let me tell you.
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And a mare that won't keep his clothes on. Yeah.
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But at the same time, and before we get to our main topic.
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It's getting hot in here. Yeah, yeah, that's right. No, no, no. Keep the money.
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Um, you know, tourism is one area where you can build on something that's already there,
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right? You don't have to create something because you're using the, the amazing stories and
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opportunities that are already there. And when you build that, more businesses come,
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more opportunities. Yeah. Yeah. So well done. Yeah.
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Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate that.
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You and your team came up with a gem. Well done.
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Oh, that's awesome. Well, that's, that's what a good politician does. And that's why I have you on
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Sorry it was late, but you know, had to make sure that was out there.
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So you're, you're a veteran, uh, Air Force, uh, veteran, um, six or so years in the service.
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And you serve on the Veterans Affairs Committee. And so that's what we want to talk about today.
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We want to talk about the fact that unfortunately, and this is not something we say with great pleasure,
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very sad that, uh, life for many veterans who are transitioning out of, of the active service,
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um, aren't having the best time with Veterans Affairs Canada, which is strange because,
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um, they've, they've grown in size bureaucrat wise, but the results, like many other departments,
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Yeah. We're, we're hearing time and time again, how bad the service is. And, uh, for those that have
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served, there's a certain expectation, uh, you know, they've been part of a comradeship where,
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you know, they've got everybody's back and they get out and they have that same expectation. And
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the culture within the military is different from civilian culture and they feel betrayed and they
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feel let down. And there's so much paperwork to go through in order to access just basic necessities
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as veterans. And they're often denied, you know, delayed. And, and then, you know, we say it's
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denied, delayed, die. And veterans sometimes just say that they've had enough of dealing with the
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bureaucratic red tape, uh, in order to just get some basic services that they're actually entitled to.
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So we have a graphic here. We got the minister talking about, um, the, the delays, um, talking about,
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issues with staffing, although the department, again, seems to be able to grow. Uh, let's queue up
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cut one. We have a question from you produced by, uh, Blake Richard's office, who's the veterans
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critic, but, uh, you're the one asking the question, but a good, good, good lead into what
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we're going to talk about next. Play cut two. What kind of change are you going to bring to this table
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So change will come with having the investment.
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to be able to invest in veterans and to have sustainable long-term investment that is ongoing
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so that we can continue the progress that we are making.
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So that's something you must be seeing and hearing a lot about at committee.
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We've had numerous veterans that have been witnesses for us. And, uh, I remember hearing one vet, um, say
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that, you know, every time he calls, uh, to go over his, his file, he gets a new caseworker.
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And so when he gets a new caseworker, he has to go through the whole...
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Yeah, you gotta start from scratch. That's frustrating.
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When you're just even on hold with like Bell or something like that, and you have to try and go to
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the next person, you gotta start over it. That's frustrating enough. Can you imagine if, you know,
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you're expecting benefits or a salary or something like that?
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A hundred percent. And so, so, you know, you, you think maybe someone's been waiting for three months
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to get a call back and they don't get it. And then they've got a call and then,
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well, you know what, your caseworker is gone or, you know, how can I help you? And then you've got
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to go through that. You know, we're hearing time and time again, sanctuary trauma. And it's something
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that, that comes up where, um, you know, veterans feel betrayed and we can touch on that a little later on.
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So, I, you know, had the penny drop when I'm, I'm sitting here. I joke around that I won't,
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I haven't been on your, you know, podcast in four years that I've been elected, but in the four years
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that I've been elected, we've had five ministers. Wow. So, you know, when you come from a cultural
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background of the military, where you take responsibility, you take ownership and you set the
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tone from the top, well, what kind of tone is the liberal government setting for veterans and what
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kind of priority are veterans, uh, when they have five ministers in four years, nine ministers
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in the 10 years since 2015, since they've been in power. That's crazy.
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So they have no concern. And, you know, when the minister's response is just, you know, throw money,
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which I don't really believe when the vets are saying, we want compassionate care, right?
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We want to be able to access the funds that are available to us, but they're being denied and
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delayed and they're having to fight. So they're not looking at the problems that veterans are facing.
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And we called her out on that and saying, you know, what are you going to do? You know,
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what's your mandate? Because I've heard it all before from every other minister that I've had,
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that sat on that committee and they've accomplished, you know, the square root of zero.
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And to your point, when the minister leaves and I, yeah, it's shocking when you just laid out like
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that, how many changes there has been, senior staff usually go with them. So again, when you're not
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only is a veteran starting from scratch in some cases with different caseworkers, every time they
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call, the policy set at the top is changing from year to year. Yeah, a hundred percent. You're right.
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You're losing corporate knowledge. And the minister thinks that she's, you know, you know,
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coming in to save the day, you're saying the exact same thing as what everybody else has done and
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you're not accomplishing anything. And so there is a distrust from veterans and there's a lack of
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belief because they can smell, you know, they can smell the deceit. Yeah. And I think some of it has to
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do with how the department itself is functioning. It was a few years ago where a injured veteran was
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calling about a chairlift in their house so they can live there. And they, the person on the phone
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at Veterans Affairs Canada, have you considered medical assistance in dying? Like what the heck?
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So maybe to your point, were you changing ministers all the time? There is no
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rudder here. It's just sailing and this stuff is allowed.
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Well, you know, and in that particular case, that lady showed up, she's in a wheelchair
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and she's got a suitcase, you know, one of those carry on suitcases and it's overflowing
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with files that she can't get. And so she's on the phone and she goes, I can't deal with this anymore.
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Not as in, you know, I want to end my life. It is, I can't deal with this. You guys have got to do your
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job. And the person goes, well, why don't you just kill yourself? Why don't you take MAID?
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And she's like, what? What kind of value? I want to live. I want to, I want to ramp to my house.
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And, you know, we're in committee and then the liberals and the block, the block who represented
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that, that, that veteran do some horse trading and it goes away. And she has to get, you know,
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community partners to actually build the ramp instead of Veterans Affairs. And, and I'm hearing
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it. There's a, there's a vet in North Bay who needs help in his kitchen and he's got to sell a
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classic car and you know, he's dealing with it as well. Yeah. Let's go back to that skill cut two.
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You were talking about veterans feeling betrayed and, and sanctuary trauma. We're going to get into
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what, what that is. But I think hearing this will answer the next one. Why cut two?
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But here's the hard truth. My greatest challenges after release were not, it was not the injuries.
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It's still, it was, and still is navigating Veterans Affairs Canada in bureaucratic delays
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and denials have compounded my mental health struggles so severely that at one point in my
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journey, my counselor recommended limiting my contact with VAC to select times each week because
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of the increased stress it was causing. Just to give you some examples, um, days before my release,
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I was informed that my approved condition was invalid because the injured limb was no longer,
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no longer existed. And as such, I would not be entitled to receive any income until my amputation
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was labeled as an improved condition. Oh my goodness. There is so much there to unpack. It is
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incredible. So the medical professional tells this veteran limit your contact with the government
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department tasked to help you access benefits to get you compensation that you earned while in service of
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your country. And then, hey, by the way, uh, your amputated, your amputated limb, you have to prove it
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every year. Yeah. What, what is that? So, so... I have some terms that I don't think would probably
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be used. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, you know, how, how, how horrific. So number one, let, let's thank that veteran
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for coming forward and having the courage. I mean, you're, you're exposing your soul and vets find that hard.
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They're, they're, they're, they're war fighters, they're warriors. And they, you know, to come
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forward and open up, uh, is tough. But the sanctuary trauma is basically, they fought for a nation,
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our nation. You and I have had the luxury of getting up in a warm bed and having a good cup of coffee,
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nice hot coffee this morning. Uh, you know, you know, walk into work, you know, warm office.
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There are vets out there that are living on the streets. They're living in cars. They're,
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they're couch surfing. They can't afford, uh, the cost of living is, is astronomical for them.
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And, and they go to the government that's supposed to be there to help them because they've been told
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that's what Veterans Affairs is there to do. And they're denied. Or they've got to prove things.
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And, you know, when you're in the military, your honesty, your word is your bond. And,
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uh, and you know, it used to be everything was in a handshake, right? We don't live in that world
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anymore. And the government is making you try and prove it's like the worst insurance company in the
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world. Right. And, uh, and then, you know, you have, we've heard numerous times vets where they've
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lost limbs and they've got to fill out the paperwork all the time. You know, we deal with CRA as well.
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It's like everything you've got to, it's not going to change. It's not going to change. And what kind
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of value does that put on the vet? How does that make them feel when they've got to do that again
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and again? I've lost a limb. I've been seriously injured and I've got to prove it to you. Should be,
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you know, one and done. Is that sort of, this is the first time I've heard of the term sanctuary
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trauma. Is that the thing, is that what we're talking about here? That they don't feel protected
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by the country they were signed, they have signed up to serve? It's our job as a nation to protect
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those veterans that, um, fought for the freedoms that we have. Um, you know, maybe they weren't,
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uh, you know, shipped overseas or, you know, but they, they put their lives on the line. They were
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willing to do it. They were prepared to sign the check in full. That's right. And, uh, and, and that's
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what we put that expectation on them. And they stood up and they said, here I am, here I am I,
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send me, I'll go. And, and then when they come back, uh, we say, no, no, prove it. You know,
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uh, and we've got this pot of money that's there. And so when I hear the minister saying, yeah,
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we're just going to throw more money, uh, or, you know, make cuts, I, I, I go, you, you're missing
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the point. You're missing the point. It's care. It's looking after our vets. And, uh, right now,
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the way that this department is being run, uh, you know, we, we can't trust them. We, you know,
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the cuts that they're going to make to veterans over the next few years is, is astronomical. It's
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sending the wrong message. And veterans are very, very concerned. They're, they're, they're asking
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questions and they have every right to ask questions about what's going on in veterans affairs. And so.
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And the sad reality is the war never ends for the warrior. That's right. That's the sad reality. And it
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continues. And when you have a country, a department that isn't standing up for you and,
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and having your back, that's a serious issue. But now we have the veterans, as you just mentioned,
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homelessness, uh, veterans, homeless program. Um, it was $80 million almost just to put in this
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program. And, and, and right now, apparent according to this new minister, there isn't really an idea of
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how many veterans were on the street when the program was created and how many are on the street
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now. But how, how does the department not know or have a general idea? Do you think as, as they're
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calling in, they would keep track or keep notes? Clearly that's not happening. If they do, it's, it's
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haphazardly. Yeah. Well, if you find the answer to that question, then please let us know because it's, uh,
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it's baffling. Uh, you know, uh, as soon as you, you know, you're released from, and you're meeting
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with veterans affairs. I mean, I, I remember when I, when I released, um, you know, we had a meeting,
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you know, cucumber sandwich, cup of coffee. Uh, but everything was, you know, you've got to go
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onto my back account and you've got to do this. There's no outreach. There should be some, some form
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of outreach where, you know, the caseworker says, okay, I know these vets. And the vet says, well,
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guess what? I'm moving to Nova Scotia. Well, you're moving from Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia.
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I'm going to put you in touch with the caseworker there so they can reach out to you. Then we
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should be tracking and we should be, that should, that should be. Basic customer service. Basic customer
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service. That's the first line of, of, of care that, and if the veteran decides against it,
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that's up to them. But if they say, you know what, thanks so much for checking in, or, you know,
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we've got to do this every year, um, and just make sure we're, we're no, we know where you are.
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We know that you're accessing, excuse me, the benefits that you're entitled to. We should
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be going and saying, you're, you should be entitled to this. You should be getting this.
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You should be getting that. And, and we're going, no, no, no, prove it, prove it, prove it,
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prove it. And we don't know where you are. Yeah. Yeah. I think there needs to be some pretty big
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eye opening here at the, at the department to look inwards and, and just on a human aspect to say,
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you know, I, obviously I'm, you know, the worker would be Canadian, would be working in Canada,
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would know about veterans, would know the value that, that we supposedly place on them to say,
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what am I as a employee at VAC with a stack on my desk of files? How can I make their interactions
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better and also advance their, their hopes for, for compensation? That, that to me, that's just the
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human aspect rather than saying, have you considered MAID? Yeah. Unbelievable. VACS mandate has to
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change. Yeah. It has to change. Well, thank you for all the work you were doing. You and the team
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on the Veterans Affairs Committee, you're doing a great job. As you may know, the guests get the last
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word because we got to get out of here. The floor is yours. Close us out. Well, thanks so much for having
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us here. I really do appreciate it. And, and for any of the veterans that are watching, I want to let you
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know that, uh, on the tutelage that I'm under, uh, with Blake has been amazing. And, uh, you know,
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we're here to, to fight. It doesn't matter what party you're from, we should be looking after our bets.
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Excuse me. And, uh, you know, it's an honor and a privilege to be representing the people of Moose Jaw
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Lake Centre Lanning and it's a position of servitude and, uh, and I honor that. So I'm, I'm grateful to be
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here and, and I do appreciate, uh, what you do for, for the people of your riding as well and the nation.
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Well, it's a pleasure working with you, Fraser. And again, keep up the great work,
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keep shining light on this file so that, that people are, you know, not, who haven't served,
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understand the scope of what we're dealing with here up in Ottawa. I know things, when people are
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busy, you know, things get passed by, but this should be something that's front and centre, I think,
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especially with the work you're doing. So thank you. Thank you. Member of Parliament,
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former mayor of Moose Jaw and also the member of Parliament for Lake Centre Lanning and, of course, Moose Jaw at the
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the beginning. Uh, thanks for your time, Fraser. Thank you for yours. Please, like we just mentioned,
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let's shed a light on what's going on here, but that means more eyes and ears need to see and hear
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this message. So please like, comment, subscribe, and share. Tell your friends it's available on
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1 30 p.m. Eastern time. Until next week, remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom. That's the blueprint.