Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence Macaulay is standing firm in the face of anger and frustration in the Liberal government over continued backlogs, backlogs and staff shortages and calls for his resignation. In an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press, MacAulay said Ottawa is making progress on several fronts in providing better and faster support to veterans after years of complaints and criticism. That includes hiring hundreds of temporary staff in recent years and awarding a new $570 million contract to an outside agency to provide rehabilitation services to sick and injured veterans across the country. “We’ve got Veterans Affairs up to where we should be,” MacAulay said. “And we want to continue to make sure it stays where it needs to be and serves veterans the right way.” But many veterans remain deeply frustrated by continued delays, delays and understaffing at Veterans Affairs Canada, which advocates say add pain and stress to thousands of former service members already battling injuries and illnesses. The rehabilitation services contract also angered the union representing Veterans Affairs employees, which is calling for Macaulay’s resignation. MacAulay, who will represent the government at Friday’s Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heads to an international summit in Cambodia, said he has no intention of resigning. “My job is to do my job,” he said. “And that is what I will do and will continue to do.” The Liberal government has been criticized for years for not keeping its promises to sick and injured veterans. This includes her failure to restore a lifetime disability pension granted to people in World War II and Korea, but not in Afghanistan. More recently, veterans and others have complained about continued delays in processing disability claims, a chronic shortage of case managers for those who need extra help, and insufficient support for families and caregivers. MacAulay has previously acknowledged that the government needs to do more to ensure veterans receive appropriate and timely support for illnesses and injuries sustained while in uniform, a point he reiterated this week. However, in the same breath, he cited several pieces of evidence as evidence that the situation is improving. These included reducing wait times for certain types of disability claims and hiring hundreds of additional Yüá– mostly temporary Yüá staff– in Veterans Affairs. “I hope they don’t question progress,” he said. “You are fully aware that some substantial progress has been made.” MacAulay also blamed external factors for some of the department’s ongoing problems, including a surge in disability benefits claims and major staff cuts under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government about a decade ago. Meanwhile, he defended the contract with Partners in Canadian Veterans Rehabilitation Services, which went into effect this month despite fierce opposition and cries of alarm from the Union of Veterans Affairs Officers. The government says the contract will help overburdened case managers while ensuring veterans have access to a national network of 9,000 psychologists, physiotherapists, social workers and other help across the country. The Liberals promised in 2015 that the average case manager would have no more than 25 veterans on their caseload, as many struggled with 40 or more after Conservative cuts. The average today is still closer to 35 when you count the dozens of case managers currently on sick and stress leave, with some still over 40 or 50, according to UVAE. “According to the contract itself, (the company) serves 14,000 veterans,” MacAulay said. “They have about 9,000 medical experts across the country to provide the services they need. I don’t think it would be very responsible to cancel that contract.” However, UVAE claims the contract will backfire by adding another layer of bureaucracy for veterans to deal with, dramatically changing the role of case managers. The union has also criticized the department’s continued reliance on temporary staff to solve its problems. That issue has also been raised by Auditor General Karen Hogan, who is calling for a long-term staffing and funding plan at Veterans Affairs. The battle between UVAE and MacAulay came to a head last month when the union wrote to Trudeau asking him to replace MacAulay because its members had lost confidence in the minister. Meanwhile, others question MacAulay’s influence at the cabinet table and the Liberal government’s concern for veterans given its failure to fix many of the department’s long-standing problems. “Whenever MacAulay speaks, it’s always the same thing: ‘We think this is the highest priority, we’re going to do everything we can,’” said Brian Forbes, executive director of War Amps and head of the National Council of Veterans Affairs. Unions, which represent 60 carriers. “In our humble opinion, all of this is not enough. You need to make systemic changes.” Asked about the resignation call and his own record, MacAulay gave many more details about the billions of dollars spent on veterans since the Liberals came to power as well as the recent purchase of land in France to save Juno Beach from development. “People can assess whether I am the right minister or not,” he said. “I will continue to do the job I do the best way I know how to make sure we serve veterans.”
