Trusting the courts can backfire

RE: Let courts decide on Khadr settlement (July 18)

The writer joins many who lament making a cash offer and providing an apology. Best let the courts decide is one demand.

More than a decade ago, a court challenge was made by a single veteran to return benefit clawbacks the government was imposing. It grew into a class action involving thousands of veterans, many of whom were disabled.

After the government fought it all the way to the Supreme Court, the amount awarded in 2012 was $887 million. Legal bills totalled $66 million and some $82 million in interest was included. Attempts to settle earlier were turned down. Trusting the courts can backfire and lead to unnecessary expense. In the Khadr case, $30 million to $40 million was estimated.

With the Supreme Court twice having ruled Khadr was denied protection under our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Liberals’ decision seems right.

As to it being part of “yet another round of broken promises by Justin Trudeau,” Canadians have access to the status of all 225 promises made. TrudeauMeter is a non-partisan, not for profit, collaborative service, which updates daily. A promise is a promise and, for example, getting 25,000 refugees in by a certain date was listed as a broken one for being two months late.

As of July 21 the Liberals have not started work on 80 promises, 61 are works in progress, 53 have been kept and 31 broken. Rather than generalizations, evaluating this wealth of information seems a better way to look at progress. Richard Ring, Grimsby