Prince George Veterans Affairs office to reopen

Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr will be in Prince George Monday to announce the reopening of the localVeterans Affairs Office.

Northern BritishColumbiahas been without an office since the former Conservative government closed it in 2012.

"We were kind of the testing ground," said John Scott, service officer for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 43 in Prince George. The city was the first to lose its office, followed by eight other locations across the country.

Hehr says the Conservative plan to use Service Canada locations along with phone and internet services didn't work for veterans in B.C.'s north.

"People just didn't even understand where the Veterans Affairs office would help them out, if Veterans Affairs could help them out at all," he said.

"That put a bigger strain on the Legion to make sure that these veterans were looked after. I knowit certainly kept me busy."

Scott has been campaigning to have the office reopened, and it became an election issue in 2015 when local Liberal, NDP, Green and Independent candidates said they would lobby to have the office reopened.

Restoring the nine closed offices was in the 2016 federal budget, but Hehr made no promises that they would reopen in the same location.

"We're going to look to where [the offices] do the most good for the most people," Hehr told CBC shortly after being elected.

"It might not be the same exact nine. If we're going to find areas in this country where more veterans are now settling, why wouldn't we take the opportunity to move those veteran support centres there?"

The news that Prince George will be one of those locations is welcome to Scott.

"I'm very relieved," he said.

With files from Wil Fundal.