Trudeau must keep vow to veterans

There’s an overwhelming argument for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to immediately restore lifelong pensions for Canada’s disabled military veterans. The argument comes from none other than Trudeau himself and the explicit promise he made before the 2015 federal election.

In that campaign, Trudeau accused the governing Conservatives of “10 years of neglect” of the military men and women who had served this country and vowed that, if elected, he would reinstate the open-ended disability payments those dastardly Tories had cancelled.

Back then, he called this “a priority.”

But now, two years after his election victory, the commitment is unfulfilled.

The Liberals should be embarrassed, even ashamed of their inaction. So much for their priorities.

Even more puzzling, the federal government led by Trudeau has continued to oppose the six injured veterans who were fighting in court to restore those lifelong disability pensions.

Why, at the very least, didn’t the government do more to settle this dispute out of court?

Earlier this week, the British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled against these veterans and in the government’s favour.

Instead of celebrating, however, the Liberals should now give the veterans a pension at least as good as the one Stephen Harper’s Conservatives took away.

The Liberals’ credibility and moral stature is at stake. It’s obvious that, in the last election, Trudeau was eager to portray his Liberals as the kind, caring alternative to the seemingly cold-hearted Conservatives, whom he accused of “lacking the respect and the support that Canadians have earned through service to country.”

One reason he said this was because the Conservatives had 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.

His declaration of support for those veterans was not a one-time pledge, either.

He actively campaigned with members of Equitas – the same group of vets who were in court this week fighting Trudeau’s government for those pensions.

Just as noteworthy, the Liberals were the only party in the election to say they’d restore the pensions.

So now, despite this week’s court ruling, all eyes are on the Liberals.

Some hope came from Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’regan who said Monday that the government “will have a pension for life option ready to present to veterans” by the end of this year.

This time Trudeau must deliver.

And the solution cannot simply be taking the lumpsum payment offered by the previous Conservative government and spreading it out over decades to give it the veneer of a real pension.

What the Liberals provide for our disabled vets must be better than what the Conservatives gave.

“This is about doing right by people who have offered everything in service of our country.”

Those aren’t our words. They’re Trudeau’s, spoken when he wanted to become prime minister.

Since then, he has broken many election promises, on electoral reform and balanced budgets for instance.

The promise to veterans was more personal, made to specific individuals.

It must be inviolable.