QUESTION PERIOD — Veterans Affairs
Unspent Funding
April 6, 2022
Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate.
As Senator Marshall noted recently, last year’s public accounts were not tabled by the Trudeau government until December 14, which is much later than usual. These public accounts showed the Department of Veterans Affairs lapsed over $634 million in spending last year. This is a tremendous amount of money to leave unspent at Veterans Affairs, especially in light of a backlog in processing disability claims that stood at over 40,000 applications at the end of June 2021.
Leader, given the long wait faced by our veterans for benefits they have earned by serving our country, why did the Trudeau government allow $634 million to go unspent at Veterans Affairs last year?
Thank you for the question. I will have to make inquiries about the monies to which you have referred. I will be happy to report back to the chamber as soon as I can.
I have another question about lapsed spending. In November 2018, the Trudeau government supported a motion in the other place that called upon the government to automatically carry forward all annual lapsed spending at Veterans Affairs to the next fiscal year, until the department meets its own service standards.
Instead of fixing the problem, this government has made the situation worse. Over the first four years of this Liberal government, about $477 million went unspent at Veterans Affairs Canada. The funding that lapsed at Veterans Affairs last year alone far exceeds that amount.
Leader, why did the Prime Minister not live up to his 2015 election promise to end this practice? And why hasn’t your government respected the motion passed in 2018? Does the Prime Minister still believe that veterans are asking for more than his government is willing to give?
With regard to your last question, I have nothing to say except that I do not believe that is the government’s position. The government values veterans, as I’ve said on many occasions, and I will say it because it is true. The service that veterans have provided to our country is to be honoured.
I will have to make inquiries, however, with regard to the earlier part of your question — namely, the status of unused funds, the reasons for them, and what the government’s plans may be to address this going forward.
