Mackay defends efforts to help military families

Bureaucratic logjam leaves dozens with financial losses

Defence Minister Peter MacKay on Wednesday defended steps taken by National Defence to ensure military families aren’t being forced to swallow huge financial losses after being ordered to move to new cities and bases.

But MacKay didn’t explain how he planned to break the bureaucratic logjam that has left dozens of military families out in the cold, prompting opposition questions about the government’s interest in helping those in need.

Canada’s military ombudsman, Peter Daigle, told the Ottawa Citizen in a recent interview that National Defence has a backlog of about 212 complaints for the military’s grievance process, with the majority related to forced moves.

Transfers are one of the biggest stresses on military families, who can face moves half a dozen times or more over the course of a military career.

National Defence does have programs in place to protect military personnel from losing money when selling homes in a “depressed” market.

But a separate department — Treasury Board, which holds the federal purse strings — must ultimately approve the request, and it doesn’t consider any market in Canada “depressed.”

Treasury Board documents show 146 families have applied for full compensation and all were denied, with Daigle saying some have lost up to $80,000 on their homes.

MacKay acknowledged the problem during an appearance before the Commons’ defence committee on Wednesday.

“We are looking at ways in which we can lessen the negative effect of a move by members of the Canadian armed forces,” he said.

But MacKay also said providing compensation “is not an inconsequential decision for Canadian taxpayers.”

He pointed to a number of changes that have been adopted, including letting the head of the military sign off on requests, as major improvements.

Yet opposition members charged the change is largely symbolic.

They said even with support from the chief of defence staff, the decision to pay military families still ultimately rests with Treasury Board bureaucrats.