Feds criticized for not reinstating pensions
Trudeau pledged lifelong sums for injured veterans
• Veterans advocates are blasting the federal government for its inaction on a promise to re-introduce lifelong pensions for those injured in uniform.
Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr has all but ruled out a return to the old way injured veterans received pensions, setting up a potentially vicious fight with some of those injured as soldiers.
In August 2015, months before the federal election, Justin Trudeau received high praise from veteran groups after a speech he gave in Belleville, Ont., where he promised to “reinstate” lifelong pensions for Canada’s injured veterans.
“For 10 years, Stephen Harper has been nickel-and-diming our veterans, lacking the respect and the support that Canadians have earned through service to country and that’s something that we have to fix as a priority,” Trudeau said at the time. “This is about doing right by people who have offered everything in service of our country.
“Future generations of brave women and men should know that they will be looked after when they finish their service to Canada. There should never be any doubt in their minds.”
During a news conference Friday at the provincial legislature in Halifax, disabled veteran David MacLeod called on the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to honour that promise.
“I’m going to start with a very radical statement that’s going to upset many Canadians,” said MacLeod, who served in Afghanistan.
“Don’t join the Canadian Armed Forces. If you get wounded or injured, Veterans Affairs Canada is unwilling or unable to help you.”
MacLeod said this week’s federal budget did not address systemic problems veterans face in dealing with Veterans Affairs, including a lack of access to benefits and services.
He said that has left veterans turning to the provinces to obtain what services they can, including health care.
MacLeod called on Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil to help with the fight by pushing harder with other provinces to get more help from Ottawa.
He was joined in the call by Kim Davis and Natasha Mohr, both wives of veterans, and another former serviceman, Medric Cousineau.
In an interview Friday with The Canadian Press, Hehr touted the benefits and services available under the New Veterans Charter, which replaced the previous pensions-for-life system in 2006.
Those include a lumpsum payment, career training and targeted income- replacement programs, many of which the Liberals have topped up and expanded over the last two years.
Wednesday’s budget saw the government commit to paying up to $ 80,000 for long- serving veterans who want to go back to school, as well as additional help to find civilian jobs and new money for families.
Those are in addition to a number of measures adopted in last year’s budget.
“The whole suite of benefits under the New Veterans Charter were not available under the Pension Act,” Hehr said. “My dad always says this: ‘ The good old days weren’t always so good’.”
But some veterans say the current system provides less financial support over the course of a lifetime and have demanded that the old pensions- for- life be brought back.
Hehr stopped short when asked whether the old pension system is dead, but veterans were told by a member of his staff in at least one briefing earlier this week that it would not be coming back.
Some veterans fear the government will simply take the lump sum that veterans currently receive for pain and suffering when they are forced from the military and spread it out over a lifetime.
The lump- sum amount varies depending on the extent of injury, with the maximum amount being $360,000.