Ellis Ross

“Mr. Speaker, as we approach Remembrance Day, Canadians across the country will gather, of course, to honour the men and women who have served this country in our armed forces and who are willing to give of their lives for the freedoms that we all enjoy. In my own communities of Airdrie and Cochrane, I will have the privilege of spending time with veterans, their families and the volunteers who work so hard to make sure their sacrifices are never forgotten. I can tell my colleagues that these are some of the finest people we will ever meet. They are proud of their service and their country. They are not looking for special treatment, but they do expect to be treated with respect and to have a government that gives them what they are owed. Thanking our veterans should not be something we do only once a year. We should not just pin a poppy on our jacket and then forget about them for the other 11 months of the year. These are men and women who stood up for Canada when their country needed them. The very least their government can do for them is to stand up for them when they need it. That is what makes the issues we are discussing here today so frustrating. When we look at the way the Liberal government is treating our veterans, we see a real disconnect between what it says and what it does. Before I get to the very important issue at hand today, I would like to get into a couple of examples that highlight some of the concerns about those differences between the words and the actions of the Liberal government when it comes to showing respect and appreciation for our veterans and what they have done for our country. I think of the issue of military chaplains, for example. For generations, prayer has been a part of military life here in Canada. It has offered comfort to soldiers facing unimaginable circumstances, to families who are grieving their loved ones and to our veterans who are remembering those who never came home. Nobody is suggesting that every Canadian must share the same religious beliefs. Of course not, but surely we can at least respect those who do find strength in their faith, just as we respect those who do not. Instead, the Canadian Armed Forces issued a directive restricting faith-specific prayer at official military functions. In fact, any reflection that might in any way be faith-based or spiritual is banned, and often the messages that a chaplain has to craft almost become meaningless. That is not what anyone would want to see. When I look at that, I have to ask why that is necessary. Our soldiers have faced enemy fire, they have lost their friends and colleagues, they have made sacrifices that most of us will never even be able to comprehend, and now we are telling military chaplains that they cannot even offer a traditional prayer at certain official ceremonies. These are people who have stood beside our troops in their darkest moments. We should be supporting them, not telling them how to practise their faith and not taking away that opportunity for our men and women who serve. Now I will get to the issue of this contract we are discussing today. I find this particularly difficult to understand. Not that long ago, fairly recently, in fact, the government ended the right of first refusal that has existed for the Corps of Commissionaires for decades. I would argue it is important that any Canadian organization or business that employs veterans at an adequate level should have an opportunity for that contract, but at the time the government came out with this, it was a surprise to everyone, including the commissionaires themselves. I remember warning at the time that we could see Canadian veterans lose opportunities and jobs as a result. Here we are, just a few short months later, and we can look at what has happened. It is exactly what we warned would happen by taking away that right of first refusal without replacing it with anything that would guarantee veterans have chances to get those jobs. Here we go. We have a Canadian not-for-profit organization with a long and proud history of providing employment opportunities to veterans. It has helped thousands of former military members transition into civilian life. It has helped them continue to serve their communities and continue to earn a living after leaving the armed forces. However, what the government did was award a nearly $12-million CRA security contract to an American multinational corporation. The difference between the two bids was reportedly less than 1%. Let us think about that for a moment. The government has spent months telling Canadians that we need to buy Canadian, that we need to support Canadian workers and that we need to become our own best customer. Well, here is an opportunity to do exactly that and to be able to support our veterans at the same time. That sounds like it should be a no-brainer, does it not? Apparently, that was not the case for the Liberal government. Our veterans, who have already paid a price for our country, a price most Canadians will never be asked to pay, should not have to keep paying for the failures of the Liberal government. They should not be struggling to afford groceries, worrying about housing or fighting through government bureaucracy just to receive the support they have already earned. They have done their part; it is time the government did its part. We have seen time and again how this works. We have seen significant delays and problematic denials in terms of veterans’ ability to get the services and supports they are entitled to. Veterans often talk about a triple-D policy: denial, delay and death. Essentially, this is because the government has set up a situation where the delays are so long and arduous and the bureaucratic process is so difficult to fight their way through that it ultimately becomes a denial just by delay. Even if it is not that, then it becomes an actual denial. They have to fight through a bunch of other bureaucratic processes, if they can find a way to do that, to hopefully end up getting a positive result in the end. At the end of the day, what the government really seems to hope is that they will just go away and stop fighting for those benefits. They earned them. They deserve them because of what they were willing to do for our country and what they did do for our country. What troubles me about all this is it should not be particularly controversial. Supporting veterans in finding meaningful employment should not be controversial. Respecting the role of faith and tradition in our military should not be controversial. Making sure veterans can afford to live with dignity should not be controversial, yet here we are. Time and time again, the government finds a way to make simple things complicated with more bureaucracy, more excuses and more broken promises. When it comes time to deliver, our veterans are left waiting. Respect for our veterans is not measured by how many wreaths a government lays or how many speeches its ministers give on Remembrance Day; it is measured by what that government does when the cameras are gone, whether it protects their traditions, supports their employment and makes sure they get the help they have earned. This is the standard our veterans deserve and should expect, and it is the standard the Liberal government needs to start being held to. I will continue to stand up for the men and women who have served our country and those who continue to serve our country today. They have earned our gratitude. They have earned our respect. Above all, they have earned a government that is prepared to back up its words with actions, but that is not what they are getting right now. As a Conservative, I will continue to fight for them, and that is what we are doing here today.”