Harper Government takes back $1.13 billion from veterans

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

OTTAWA - Veterans Affairs Canada has returned $1.13 billion to the federal treasury in unspent funds since the Conservatives came to power in 2006 — cash that critics say should have gone towards improved benefits and services.

Full article:  http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/national/283272171.html 

Canadian Veterans are here not to praise Caesar but to bury him .....  http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/11/13/the-final-front-veterans-versus-harper-in-2015/ 

[disisus]

The Conservatives never promised to support the Veterans, only to support the troops. When the Veterans charter was changed in 2006 it took out the "social obligation" part that's been in there since the early 1900's. So the Gov'ts lawyers argued in court last year that Canada has no social obligation to our veterans.

Vets outraged as federal lawyers argue Ottawa has no social obligation to soldiers

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/vets-outraged-as-federal-lawyers-argue-ottawa-has-no-so...

[2014sportsterguy]

Those Cons sure use a lot of Sacharin, heartless ,maybe the Senate hogs could use it by their logic and decision making.

[2014sportsterguy]

Harper dictates a pseudo government, fools that allowed that nobody control....... As for Lawyers they are a bunch of leeches on society.

[valve37]

Hmmmm always read the fine print ......seems all parties voted for this in 2005 and "contained no reference to social obligation."

New Democrat veterans critic Peter Stoffer  "noted that unlike the previous legislation, the new veterans charter — passed unanimously by all parties in 2005 and enacted by the Conservatives in 2006 — contained no reference to social obligation.

Perhaps we need to elect a social socialistic government. Do we have any of those? The Bloc? 

[disisus]

Everyone knows that all parties agreed to the new charter back in 2006. They thought it would be good for the Veterans but it hasn't turned out that way. Now there's only one party that can change it and they won't. Responsibility for unhappy Veterans is the Conservatives responsibility. Talking to the groups that represent them would be a good start. Not just the groups that you like.

Tories seek to mend fences with some, but not all, veterans groups

Veterans Affairs will meet with veterans groups on Wednesday in Quebec City, but several veterans organizations have been excluded.

http://www.macleans.ca/politics/tories-seek-to-mend-fences-with-some-but-not-all-veterans-groups/

[valve37]

"Everyone knows that all parties agreed to the new charter back in 2006."

No, all parties in 2005 when Libs (Martin) were in power. Enacted in 2006 when the Cons came to power Jan23/06. Nice try changing the program.

Closer to election time the Act may change, d'ya think

[pierrelebel]

valve - can you honestly defend the position of the Harper Conservative government constantly making claims that they increased the budget for veterans while at the same time not spending a substantial portion of that budget?

Honestly?

Are they not areas of governance where you disagree with Harper and his Cabinet?

[valve37]

I just go by the facts. Here's the latest Pierre.

Government of Canada increases support for Veterans through new community program

Minister of Veterans Affairs announces new initiative with VETS Canada

Reference: N14064E

July 3, 2014 – Toronto – Veterans Affairs Canada

The Honourable Julian Fantino today announced the Government of Canada is partnering with Veterans Emergency Transition Services (VETS) Canada to better deliver assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to Veterans in need.

Through Veterans Affairs Canada's At-Risk Veterans Outreach Initiative, VETS Canada will provide assistance to at-risk and homeless Veterans, and ensure help gets to those who need it. Services include immediate in-person, online, and telephone assistance to help Veterans in need of temporary shelter and access to Government of Canada programs and benefits.

VETS Canada's team of volunteers includes still-serving and retired members of the Canadian Armed Forces and still-serving and retired members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. These “boots on the ground” teams will help identify at-risk Veterans and accompany and/or refer them to VAC area offices, shelters, the Royal Canadian Legion, medical and substance abuse treatment programs, as well as provide peer support and coaching.

Quick Facts

• A 12-month contract, valued at approximately $300,000, has been awarded to VETS Canada. It is a one-year contract, with two one-year options to extend the contract period to three years in total.
• VETS Canada works to support Veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces and former members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who are homeless or at risk.
• Veterans Affairs Canada has emergency funds to assist Veterans in meeting immediate emergency needs. At-risk Veterans can also access emergency funds from other sources, including the Royal Canadian Naval Benevolent Fund and the Canadian Forces Personnel Assistance Fund.
• Through the VAC Assistance Service, Veterans can reach a professional counsellor at any time—24 hours a day, 365 days a year—by calling 1-800-268-7708.

Quotes

"Today's announcement is part of our government's broader initiative to communicate with Veterans the services and benefits available to them. Our partnership with VETS Canada will better enable us to identify Veterans at risk and ensure they have access to services and support."

The Honourable Julian Fantino, Minister of Veterans Affairs

"By funding this reputable organization, the Government is taking a decisive step forward to address some of our concerns and improve the chances of successful rehabilitation for Veterans at risk. It is also recognizing the importance of Veterans helping Veterans."

Guy Parent, Canada's Veterans Ombudsman

"VETS Canada will provide its leadership, best practices, governance, on-the-ground network, leading-edge mobile app and infrastructure to seek out homeless Veterans and those at-risk, and help them get help via VAC and other agencies."

Jim Lowther, Director, VETS Canada

"Wounded Warriors Canada is a proud national funding partner of VETS Canada. We have witnessed firsthand the direct impact of their work and the outcomes delivered as they continue to identify homeless veterans across the country and work to get them the help and care that they need. We once again applaud Minister Fantino's timely action and look forward to working with the Department of Veterans Affairs on this important project."

Phil Ralph, National Program Director for Wounded Warriors Canada

"The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) applauds the Government of Canada for its decision to partner with Veterans Emergency Transition Services (VETS) Canada. The in-person, online, and telephone assistance offered by volunteers around-the-clock to military veterans at risk will ensure that individuals receive the assistance they need and deserve."

Chief Constable Jim Chu, President, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=865079

[pierrelebel]

That was a very long answer. 

I expected a quick

YES I support the Conservative government in the handling of veterans

NO I do not support the Conservative government in the handling of veterans

Your answer suggest you do.  Too bad.

[disisus]

Valve,

You can quote any Gov't press release you want. What they say and what the Veterans are entitled to are not the same as what they're getting.

This is a long article ( 12 Pages ) but I found it interesting. I found out things I did not know. Like about Harper's Father and Grandfather that shape his thinking.

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/11/11/delay-deny-and-die-the-harper-government-and-veterans/#top

[valve37]

Like I said facts are facts. Do you support what the article has accomplished?

In the broader context there will never be enough done for vets by any party. That will always be the perception.  

[pierrelebel]

" there will never be enough done for vets by any party."

That has nothing to do with this discussion.

You have a conservative government in power claiming to spend more money through their annual budgets for the department while - at the same time - NOT spending the amounts budgeted.

There can be no defense for those actions. 

And, in the meantime, the same government finds ways to give the money that had been allocated to support our veterans to the very well off in this country through tax breaks,

Sickening.

[disisus]

Like I said facts are facts. Do you support what the article has accomplished?

There isn't much information out there about the volunteer organization Vets Canada to know what they've accomplished.

They have a website that says it's partnered with the Gov't, have a link to volunteer and donate, etc.

I did find a news article that says they have 1 employee for the entire province of Alberta as of a week ago.

Apparently they rely on volunteers.

"Although Payne is part of a larger national network that helps veterans, she is the only employee with VETS Canada in all of Alberta."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/more-help-needed-for-homeless-veterans-in-edmonton-1.2831928

[valve37]

"The strangeness of the position is compounded by the fact that the New Charter is a Liberal creation, proposed before the Conservatives came to power in 2006. Instead of abandoning it as an example of “wrongheaded Liberal thinking,” they have clung to it."

Veterans’ anti-Tory operation could backfire

Some Canadian military veterans might be frustrated with their treatment by the federal government, but by going political, they’re taking a big risk.

Canadian Veterans Advocacy is suing the government over benefits. More significantly, it wants its members and the 119,000 regular and reserve armed forces personnel to take up ballots against the Conservatives in the next election.

The tactic already has split veterans’ groups, divided political opinion and raised questions about what the country really owes to its wounded warriors.

Veterans Advocacy argues that the so-called New Veterans Charter, which pays a lump sum rather than guaranteed lifetime payments for service-related wounds and illness, leaves vulnerable people without enough to survive life after their service.

Among other demands, the group wants the lifetime payments restored, saying there are too many veterans living on the edge of financial disaster.

That also puts Veterans Advocacy up against the Royal Canadian Legion, the country’s largest veterans’ organization. The Legion supports some parts of the New Charter but opposes others.

Veterans Advocacy’s president, Michael Blais, doesn’t seem to care if he’s offside with the Legion. His goal is to achieve a better comprehensive benefits package for veterans. Anyone who gets in the way of that goal is just wrong.

Blais is not alone in finding fault with the new charter. Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent reported in July that financial compensation sometimes falls short for seriously wounded and disabled veterans.

“It is simply not acceptable to let veterans who have sacrificed the most for their country — those who are totally and permanently incapacitated — live their lives with unmet financial needs,” Parent reported.

The contretemps puts the Harper government in a strange position. For all its maudlin idolizing of the Armed Forces and Canadian military history, it is not about to exempt veterans from spending restraints.

This is an election year, with fiscal management and middle-class tax cuts as key Conservative campaign issues. Using threats as leverage for more money seems foolhardy.

Still, Canadians respect their veterans. The Legion sold two million more Remembrance Day poppies this year than average, which tells you something. Trouble is, voters also want the books balanced.

The strangeness of the position is compounded by the fact that the New Charter is a Liberal creation, proposed before the Conservatives came to power in 2006. Instead of abandoning it as an example of “wrongheaded Liberal thinking,” they have clung to it.

So Blais and his allies are mounting an Anything But Conservative campaign for the coming election; strategic voting aimed at a single issue. That’s where the peril lies.

Veterans Advocacy says it isn’t simply anti-Conservative and that it would campaign against any party refusing to support fundamental changes to the New Charter.

But the Conservatives aren’t just any party. They are the government and will be until a new one is sworn in, which might not happen after the next election.

Veterans Advocacy should study the 2008 campaign, when Premier Danny Williams whipped up Newfoundland and Labrador in the fight over offshore oil revenues. The Conservatives got shut out in the province but were re-elected nationally.

Even the mighty Danny Williams could only deny seven seats out of 308 to the Conservatives. The country didn’t move. No veterans’ group will influence seven ridings in the 2015 election, probably not even one.

There are hundreds of thousands of serving and former military members in Canada, but they are spread across the geography and the political spectrum. There is no such thing as a military vote.

Veterans Advocacy has declared itself in opposition to a party that is extremely sensitive about enemies, real and imagined. Dealing with that party in a re-elected government might prove to be challenging indeed.

So Veterans Advocacy, by hitting the Conservatives where they live, might end up influencing votes but no seats. If that happens they will win a battle, but lose the war.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1251141-leger-veterans%E2%80%99-anti-tory-operation-could-backf...

[disisus]

Yes, I know Valve.

The current state of affairs with the Veterans is the Liberals fault.

It appears that Harper really does love the military. Enough to dress like them.

https://bcblue.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/harper.jpg

[valve37]

I bet Pierre doesn't agree with that!

[art-in-the-making]

Hard to believe that the Harper anti-vet activism would only get actual military personnel and vets riled up, as they go on about in that Chronicle Herald article.

You would think that all the pro-military war types would be outraged over this. But, don't jump to conclusions too fast. There is a sizable chunk of the Conservative brainstrust and support base who see a war vet as a potentially good reliable low paid worker. Given a bit of glory now and then, the impoverished war vet is even better than a temporary foreign worker. Follow orders well, respect their "superiors", grateful just to have a job. Conservative ingenuity strikes again! 

However this beautiful exploitive harmony would all be ruined if vets got too many benefits.

[disisus]

Veterans Advocacy argues that the so-called New Veterans Charter, which pays a lump sum rather than guaranteed lifetime payments for service-related wounds and illness, leaves vulnerable people without enough to survive life after their service.

If you read the article I posted you would see that the average lifetime payment is 45,000. Less than most Conservative Photo-Ops costs. The max. is 300,000 and only 146 ( approx. ) veterans actually qualify for that. It's treated like an insurance policy where the insurance company pays out as little as possible and they have to fight for some of their benefits. For example: One soldier got hit and lost 5% of his brain. So they calculated that 5% of his brain was worth about 22,000. In other examples, soldiers that have served for 8-9 years and now have PTSD and can't work don't qualify for any kind of monthly payment ( you need 10 yrs of service ) so end up as homeless in many cases.

Here's a fact that you should take notice of Valve and should shock everyone. More of our military have died from their own hand ( suicide ) because they can't handle the aftermath and didn't receive the support they needed when they came home than have died at the hands of the enemy. It's the leading cause of death in the military.  Obviously something is very very wrong.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/09/16/suicide_claims_more_soldiers_than_those_killed_by_afgh...

[valve37]

And so Les what formula would you use in payouts? There has to be a formula, you don't just toss out money like our premier did for the teachers here in Ontario, half a billion just before the election this past summer to shut the union up who told them to vote Liberal.

Help is available free for PTS vets, just enroll in the VTP program. Quite sucsessful so it seems for those that took advantage of it. 

http://vtncanada.org/vtp/