The Conservative government is facing accusations of wil[l]ful blindness after Veterans Affairs Canada quietly axed a survey that asked ex-soldiers how satisfied they were with the department’s service.
The decision to drop the national client survey was made despite spending cuts and significant changes to how Veterans Affairs interacts with veterans, including the controversial closure of nine regional offices and a concerted push toward the online services.
Veterans Affairs is not saying why it stopped conducting the survey, but spokeswoman Kate Murphy said the department is “committed to ensuring we get the best independent advice on our programs.”
“That is why we work with stakeholders, including veterans’ organizations, to ensure programs and services are the best they can be for veterans,” Murphy said.
NDP Veterans Affairs critic Peter Stoffer, however, suggests the survey was stopped because the Conservative government doesn’t want confirmation that many ex-soldiers are angry or upset about the level of service they are receiving.
“If they did a survey now, a complete and honest survey, I think their figures would be much lower than in the past,” he said. “They don’t want to know the answer because it might make them look bad.”
The national client survey was last conducted in 2010. It found Second World War and Korean War veterans and their survivors were generally happy with the department’s performance, but “satisfaction levels” among modern-day veterans, including Afghan vets, had fallen from 80 per cent in 2007 to 68 per cent in 2010.
Internal briefing documents obtained by the Citizen show that result was particularly worrisome to Veterans Affairs officials, and highlighted the challenge of “meeting different and higher service expectations.”
The Veterans Affairs website says the survey, which cost $74,000, was intended to “help VAC in planning how to improve care and support of Veterans and their families, and in evaluating the programs and services we offer.” The website says the next iteration was supposed to be conducted in 2012-13.
But while Veterans Affairs has cut hundreds of front line staff, outsourced a number of services, closed several offices, and shifted toward more Internet and telephone contacts with veterans in response to government-ordered budget cuts since 2010, a new survey was not conducted.
Meanwhile, the changes have prompted a fierce political debate, with some veterans groups up in arms over what they say are major problems with the system, and the Conservative government conversely claiming it has streamlined the system and made it easier for veterans to access services and benefits.
Stoffer said the original survey fell short because it only solicited the opinions of veterans who were receiving services, and not those who were denied a benefit or otherwise caught in the system. Even then, he said the government needs a way to assess how it’s responding to veterans’ needs and concerns.
“Only then will you know exactly how you’re doing,” he said. “Don’t forget, if they’re spending all this money on a program that doesn’t work, then it’s a waste of money.”
Liberal Veterans Affairs critic Frank Valeriote said the Conservative government has a terrible record of consulting anyone who might be critical of it, and that cancelling the survey is one way to save face on a file that has proven troublesome in recent years.
“The bottom line is they know what the result of consulting veterans will be,” he said. “They don’t want to know, and surely they don’t want Canadians to know. So it’s better to be uninformed and keep Canadians uninformed than face the music.”
lberthiaume@ottawacitizen.com
