HANSARD
Organizational Meeting
Printed and Published by Nova Scotia Hansard Reporting Services
VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Mr. Harold Theriault (Chairman)
Mr. Keith Bain
Hon. Patrick Dunn
Mr. Chuck Porter
Mr. Gordon Gosse
Mr. David Wilson (Sackville-Cobequid)
Mr. Percy Paris
Mr. Manning MacDonald
Mr. Wayne Gaudet
Ms. Kim Leadley
Legislative Committee Clerk
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HALIFAX, THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009
STANDING COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
9:00 A.M.
CHAIRMAN
Mr. Harold Theriault
MR. CHAIRMAN: I'll call this meeting to order and welcome everybody. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas - I did, until the power went out. But anyway, we got through it and hopefully we don't have to go through that another Christmas down there.
What we're going to do this morning is set an agenda. I hope everybody has a list, and I've added one more thing for our caucus - Krista Locke, who is head of Veterans Affairs. Mr. MacDonald.
MR. MANNING MACDONALD: I'd like to add another one for our caucus - the Department of Veterans Affairs re post-traumatic stress disorder. Can we have somebody in from the department to talk about that?
MR. CHAIRMAN: Would that work under Krista Locke?
MR. MANNING MACDONALD: It might.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Could she bring - the last time . . .
MR. MANNING MACDONALD: Well, you could combine the two, yes, and she can bring somebody who knows all about that.
MR. CHAIRMAN: The last time they were in here, it was probably over a year ago, and I think we should have an update from her and there's probably a lot of questions that we could ask her, you know, different things. Mr. Gaudet.
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MR. WAYNE GAUDET: I have two I would like to add to our list. The first one is the Walter Callow bus service here in Halifax. I remember way back that they were in, they haven't been in for at least the last five years. So that's my first one.
The second one, there was some discussion at an earlier meeting a number of years ago about our committee going down to Truro to visit the Diefenbaker Bunker, so I would like to put that on our agenda as well, please.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. So everybody has a copy of that. The PC caucus has four different topics: Jim Davis of Bridgewater, Kim MacDonald, Wilf Edmond and Shaun Fevens. The NDP has, I believe, just the one about the Legions to come in to give us a presentation on the problems the Legions are having - that's a good one. I mean, we all can understand what's going on there, I guess, but it would be nice to get an update from the Legions about their problems.
MR. GOSSE: Excuse me just for a second, Mr. Chairman. The second one would fall under Krista Locke and the post-traumatic stress . I think that second one on ours would fall under that also.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay, so is there a motion for one to be at the top of the list for the next meeting?
MR. MANNING MACDONALD: I'll move that, that these be the topics.
MR. CHAIRMAN: We need to pick . . .
MR. MANNING MACDONALD: What order, do you mean?
MR. CHAIRMAN: What order.
MR. GAUDET: Let's pick one from each group. I think it would be interesting to have somebody come in and basically focus on Afghanistan, whether it's a father or a soldier. So if we could maybe, through Kim's office, try to see who is available.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Jim Davis is on top of the list for the PCs' pick.
MR. GAUDET: Maybe Jim or Shaun, a couple of them.
MR. GOSSE: Do we have two?
MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes, we could go with two.
MR. MANNING MACDONALD: Sure.
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MR. CHAIRMAN: The NDP's, the Legions, I believe that would be a good . . .
MR. GOSSE: Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes, that would be a good topic to hear from the Legions, and the third one, we'd go with Krista Locke - do we want to go in that order?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Yes.
MR. CHAIRMAN: The next meeting on February 12th, is that all right? So February 12th we'll go with the Afghanistan . . .
MR. KEITH BAIN: So we're going to do the two of them, Jim Davis and Shaun Fevens?
MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes, do the two of them together.
MR. BAIN: Okay, that's good.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Then the next one would be the Legions but we can set an agenda - we may as well do that today though, set that agenda, keep them going, so that will be three. That will keep us going for the next three months. Okay, do we have to have a motion for that?
MR. MANNING MACDONALD: I just move that we accept the agenda, as stated.
MR. GOSSE: I'll second it.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
Okay, that wasn't too hard. The next thing on the agenda here is the research packages. They want to try to cut down on the paperwork, it's as simple as that. Why send us all a hard copy of everything that comes out of here? We just want to send one copy to one of our researchers, to our office, and that would be enough.
MR. MANNING MACDONALD: That's the same thing we did the other day at Community Services, and I'll agree.
MR. CHAIRMAN: So do we all agree with that?
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SOME HON. MEMBERS: Yes.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. That was easy.
So that's all we have to deal with this morning.
MR. MANNING MACDONALD: I move that we adjourn, Mr. Chairman.
MR. GOSSE: I'll second that, Mr. Chairman, and remind everybody that on February 12th to bring flowers, as Valentine's Day is the 14th.
MR. BAIN: Flowers for you, Gordie? (Laughter)
MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. We're adjourned.
[The meeting adjourned at 9:09 a.m.]
