Concerns about Veterans Affairs Department legitimate
There are some very legitimate concerns being voiced about the future of the only federal department headquartered outside of Ottawa.
Veterans Affairs Canada has seen six ministers come and go in the last five years. By contrast, there have only been six finance ministers since 1993. There is also rumours the department, headquartered at Daniel J. MacDonald building in Charlottetown, could be merged with National Defence.
The two departments were under the same minister until yesterday, when Cardigan MP Lawrence MacAulay was handed the job in a cabinet shuffle. Harjit Sajjan had become the acting minister when Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned after less than a month in the post in the fallout from the SNC-Lavalin affair. The Vancouver area MP told the Commons Justice Committee this week she received “consistent and sustained pressure” while she was justice minister to halt a criminal prosecution for the Montreal company.
The Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs heard loud and clear from both union representatives and the Royal Canadian Legion this week that the status quo is not acceptable. Island Senator Diane Griffin, who is part of the Independent group of senators, is a committee member.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is obviously hoping the appointment of one of the longest service members of his cabinet will help lessen those concerns.
Virginia Vaillencourt, who is president of the Union of Veterans Affairs Employees, told the committee no other department has even come close to that type of turnover. She said the revolving door sends a message both work the department does and the contribution made by veterans to preserving this country’s freedom are not important to government.
The president of the Royal Canadian Legion echoed the same theme. Thomas Irvine told committee members the revolving door at the ministerial level means the department is not getting the attention it deserves at the cabinet table.
There has long been resistance among many in the Ottawa bureaucracy to the idea of having a department headquartered outside the nation’s capital. A revamped Department of National Defence-Veterans Affairs would almost certainly be headquartered in Ottawa, with current office being relegated to a sub-headquarters - if it survived at all. The loss of the department would a significant economic blow, not only to Charlottetown but the entire province.
Senator Griffin told the media she agreed with the presenters and all eight MPs and senators from this province must fight hard to ensure the department remains open. It is a fight that will likely continue well after the next election and the political stripe of whoever holds the four Island ridings can’t be allowed to matter.
At the same time, we have to realize eight voices can’t really make much noise in the corridors of power. The provincial government must be involved and an alliance must be built across party lines with other MPs and senators in Ottawa.
The last time the province lost a major federal presence, namely CFB Summerside, it was replaced with another - the Goods and Services Tax Centre. The odds of that happening again are virtually zero. It must become a campaign issue when Canadians go to the polls in October and all voters should be asking all candidates who come to their door for a commitment the department will not only survive but thrive on P.E.I. for a long time to come.