A better deal for injured vets

As Justin Trudeau leaves behind an unaccustomedly bumpy old year, he starts a new one on the smooth, solid ground of an important promise he’s finally kept.

Just before Christmas, his government announced it will restore lifelong pensions and enhanced supports for all those veterans who were injured in the service of Canada.

The prime minister remains open to criticism that it took him more than two years to make good on a commitment he insisted was a priority in the 2015 federal election campaign.

Even more relevant is the complaint that the new assistance for those deserving veterans won’t be delivered until April 2019.

But the essential take-away for Canadians is that men and women injured in the line of military duty receive a better deal from their country and that Trudeau has, however belatedly, kept his word.

The new package of pensions and supports is complex and geared to the wishes of the veterans it will help.

Overall, however, it is a marked improvement over the New Veterans Charter adopted by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in 2006 — with the unanimous support of the Liberals and New Democrats.

The Conservatives replaced lifelong disability pensions for veterans with a single, lump-sum payment of up to $360,000, as well as career-training and targeted income-support payment programs.

But veterans who were coping with a wide range of serious physical and mental health issues said that was inferior to the former disability pensions.

They demanded better and the Liberals met that demand.

Under the new plan, injured veterans can still choose the lump-sum award if they want the money right away.

But they can, instead, choose a monthly payment to help with their pain and suffering. That payment can reach a maximum of $1,150 each month.

In addition, veterans with severe or permanent disabilities will be eligible for a new monthly benefit worth between $500 and $1,500, on top of the pain and suffering award. Both benefits are tax-free.

Some veterans feared the Liberals would merely take the $360,000 lump-sum payment and spread it over a veteran’s lifetime. That fear has not been realized.

When the Liberals’ new system kicks in, the most severely disabled veterans will get substantially more money than they would have under the previous charter — and even the old pensions.

That said, while veterans with moderate injuries will get more money than they did under the charter, it could be hundreds of dollars a month less than what they received from the previous pensions.

All in all, however, the Liberals have come through with an improved system that will cost $3.6 billion more than what it replaces.

Yet why will veterans have to wait another 16 months for the new program to begin?

The Liberals say it will take that long to pass the new legislation.

Given the distinct possibility the opposition parties will support giving more to veterans, the government should try harder to expedite the start-date of a program so important to people who gave Canada so much.