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Thank you, Chair.

I want to go back to Mr. Youngman and his opening remarks. I'm just going to read something quickly. It's in relation to an industry in my area—or across the country, actually.

You said, “Transition finance focuses on the dynamic process of becoming sustainable rather than providing a point-in-time assessment of what is already sustainable today. This inclusive approach creates room for financing to decarbonize the most polluting and hard-to-abate industries today."

What I'm concerned about to some extent, Mr. Youngman, is this. For example the Canadian Dairy Farmers were in Ottawa this week. They have reduced the carbon footprint of milk by 25% over the past 20 years. I guess my fear is that they're not going to receive credit for that.

Is that what your statement in your second paragraph is referring to somewhat?

Thank you.

My and their concern was that their starting point is quite different than for some other industries. I guess their starting point began a long time ago on some of the actions they have taken.

I will move on to.... Markets play a critical role, obviously—we had a good discussion on this—in supporting orderly transition to low-carbon economies, but there are challenges that remain. We talked about best practices from other countries, the promulgation of frameworks, data inconsistencies and lack of comparability.

The Canadian government today is fully behind the OECD and the Paris Agreement, without a doubt. We're learning much as we move forward, and we're learning quickly. I'm just wondering how we overcome some of those challenges.

Okay.

Another concept that has been utilized to develop a strong economy and clean environment is carbon credits. Some of the industries that were mentioned previously today obviously could take advantage of carbon credits.

What is your opinion on carbon credits and how quickly we are moving towards them?

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members.

Thank you for having me here today. It's a pleasure to be here, and it's always a pleasure to come to the committee. I'd like to thank you for your recent work on veterans employment, and I look forward to receiving your report and recommendations.

I'm here today to discuss the main estimates and supplementary estimates (C).

On the main estimates, you will see funding to extend disability adjudication resources for another year, as set out in budgets 2020 and 2021. This will help us to continue to reduce the backlog.

I know you all have a keen interest in where we're at in reducing the backlog, so I'm pleased to share with you that the backlog presently sits at 6,800, which is more than a 70% reduction since its peak of more than 23,000 in 2020. We're on track to meet the service standard by the end of the summer.

We also received additional funding to support mental health benefit programs. These programs allow veterans to immediately receive mental health care when they apply for disability benefits for an eligible mental health condition and to maintain this support until a decision is made on the application or for up to two years from the time the application is received.

On the supplementary estimates (C), you will see requests that are specific to the department's commemorative activities. Remembering our fallen and the important battles that have marked Canadian military history is vitally important. This is why, these estimates contain funding requests for our commemorative infrastructure in Europe.

Last year we learned that a commercial development threatened the Juno Beach Centre and the surrounding land. We worked closely with the Juno Beach Centre association and French authorities to jointly purchase the land. As part of my European trip last month, I was able to congratulate everyone involved. The $4 million in these estimates will help to protect the site from any future development. I can assure you that every dollar noted in the main estimates and supplementary estimates (C) will make a significant difference for veterans and their families and in our efforts to honour Canadian military service abroad.

The department's annual budget is $2 billion higher than it was when we formed government. That is money going directly into the pockets of veterans.

I would also like to note that I was pleased to provide the committee with the investigative report into inappropriate conversations with veterans about medical assistance in dying. You have all had the chance to review the findings, and I hope that, like me, you are relieved to know that these isolated incidents, though terrible, are not indicative of a more systemic issue.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll be pleased to try to answer your questions.

Thank you very much, Mr. Richards.

If you have met these people, all I would ask you is why you didn't bring it forward.

You know that I asked for an investigation led by the deputy minister. If you don't press the deputy minister, you could go to the ombudsperson—

If you don't press the ombudsperson, you could go to the RCMP. If you have information that indicates this took place, why would you not bring the information forward when you're asked to do it?

Mr. Richards, you were asked by the government. Do you not trust public servants? Do you not trust the ombudsperson? Do you not trust the RCMP? If you have six or 19 and you're bringing these figures forward, we would ask you, for the sake of the veterans whom you seem to meet, who are so fearful of us—

If they're fearful of us, I would like to hope that you would bring up what you did for veterans when you were in government—

I hope you brought that up—

I am very pleased to answer your question, Mr. Richards.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that.

If my honourable colleague is meeting veterans who are fearful of Veterans Affairs, I wish he'd bring that forward. We want to make sure that we serve veterans every way we possibly can to make sure they receive their benefits at an appropriate time.

Mr. Richards is fully aware that this government has put $2 billion per year into the pockets of veterans more than when his government was in power. He's also aware that we have asked—

—everybody to bring any information they have forward to the RCMP—

—to the ombudsperson—

Of course, Mr. Richards, they attempted to contact veterans and they did contact veterans. They always contact veterans—