Veterans affairs to stay in P.E.I.: minister
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 | 9:26 PM AT
CBC News
Rumours have been going around Charlottetown for weeks about the future of the 1,200 jobs at the department's headquarters. (CBC) The minister of veterans affairs says the department's head office will stay in Charlottetown, but it will require some changes.
Jean-Pierre Blackburn said Tuesday the department needs to adapt to the changing needs of veterans and that it won't need as many employees in the future.
Speaking in Toronto today, he said 1,700 veterans of the Second World War and Korean War die each month. At the same time, new veterans from the war in Afghanistan are in need of different services.
"The new veterans coming from Afghanistan, they're growing. So our department has to do changes to meet the needs of our new modern veterans who are totally different from the veterans of the Second World War and Korean War," he said.
Rumours have been going around Charlottetown for weeks about the future of the 1,200 jobs at the department's headquarters. The head office has been in Charlottetown for more than 30 years.
"I've gotten a couple phone calls from employees of the department who are obviously concerned about their future here in Charlottetown. And in fairness to them, the government needs to be clear and straightforward," said mayor Clifford Lee.
Lee said he is writing a letter to Blackburn requesting a meeting in the next 10 days.
"We need to be told in very clear terms that there is no plans for changes to the Department of Veterans Affairs, not only for the benefit of the city but also as a benefit to the people that work there. It must be really difficult for these people to continue to go to work day in and day out, not knowing what if anything may be changing in their workplace."
Blackburn said any necessary staffing changes could be addressed through attrition.
"I have great respect for our employees. How can we manage these new needs for our veterans in the future? And the best way to be sure that this department will be up to date is to prepare those changes in one, two, three, four, five years from now."
