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But critics say the documents prove the government cut too far and too deep at Veterans Affairs, while the new hires are a drop in the bucket of what’s needed.

“The layoffs have had a detrimental impact,” said NDP veterans affairs critic Peter Stoffer. “They’re scrambling to rehire people now, but you need a lot more people than that.”

The briefing notes obtained by the Citizen through the access to information law were prepared for O’Toole upon his appointment as veterans affairs minister in January. They provide a historic look at staffing levels within the department, as well as where recent cuts have been made.

According one to briefing book, the number of people working at Veterans Affairs shrank 21 per cent from a high of 3,904 in 2008-09 to 3,085 in 2013-14 as the government cut spending to balance the federal budget. That left the department with its smallest workforce since 1998-99, when it had 3,037 employees.

The same book showed that between 2011 and 2014, the number of “service delivery” employees was cut from 1,890 to 1,352, a decline of more than 28 per cent. In fact, of the 668 positions eliminated during that time period, more than 80 per cent were classified as “service delivery.”

Meanwhile, O’Toole was warned in another document that hundreds of injured veterans were being forced to wait more than four months to hear whether they qualified for disability benefits as the applications were being processed slower than the previous year.