CONS concerned about Fantinos Electability

[tay]

I don't think I'll ever forget the sight of Julian Fantino running away from the wife of a wounded veteran who just wanted to speak to him.
And how Jenifer Migneault finally threw up her arms in frustration and despair and shouted at the retreating minister:

"We are NOTHING to you."

It was so powerful, it stunned me like a concussion grenade.

And how right she was.

For what else is anybody supposed to conclude from this disgusting situation? (link is external)






Half of badly wounded veterans not getting disability cheque




It’s a pattern with the current government, he said, noting how the Conservatives poured funding into the burial program for impoverished ex-soldiers in 2013, but took a year to ease the eligibility criteria so people could actually qualify.

“The evidence presented in the report clearly demonstrates that many severely impaired veterans are either not receiving these benefits or may be receiving them at a grade level that is too low,” the ombudsman said.

“This is unfair and needs to be corrected.”




Half of badly wounded veterans not getting disability cheque: watchdog - The Globe and Mail




Veterans across the country are organizing to teach Fantino and his equally shameless leader Stephen Harper, a lesson they won't ever forget.
A network of veterans across Canada is planning a co-ordinated campaign against the Conservative government during next year’s election.The plan is similar to the ABC campaign — urging people to vote Anything But Conservative — waged by former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams.

“When the election is called, you’re going to see some large fallout, believe me,” said Sydney veteran Ron Clarke. “As soon as the writ is dropped, we are in action.”

I think they could have a huge impact on the campaign. By shaming those Cons wherever they go.

And of course I'm with them all the way.

I couldn't be more honoured to join those who helped keep Canada free, to help liberate our country from the filthy Harper regime.


Because it really is time.

Enough is ENOUGH...





Veterans across Canada plot campaign against Conservatives | The Chronicle Herald

 

[tay]

Fantino lashes out at veterans ... once again.






It's hard to believe Julian Fantino's role is to champion Canadian Forces veterans at the Harper cabinet table. You can imagine how he describes those he represents to his fellow CON snickers when they are ensconced in their offices

Deveryn Ross finishes him off.........










In an op-ed titled It's a myth veterans are mistreated, published in Wednesday's Halifax Chronicle Herald, Veteran Affairs Minister Julian Fantino lashed out at veterans who are unhappy with the treatment they are receiving from the Harper government, and at unionized members within his own department.


"One myth is that veterans no longer receive monthly benefits and just receive a lump-sum payment," the minister wrote. "This is simply not true. Veterans are eligible for a range of services and benefits that enable them to get the financial help and support they deserve."


Fantino's claims are contradicted by findings contained in a report by Veterans' Ombudsman Guy Parent, released on Tuesday. Parent concluded almost half of Canada's most severely disabled veterans are not receiving a government allowance intended to compensate them for their physical and mental wounds.

"Many severely impaired veterans are either not receiving these benefits or may be receiving them at a grade level that is too low," wrote the Ombudsman. "This is unfair and needs to be corrected."


Brandon resident Glen Kirkland, a veteran of the Afghanistan war and leading advocate for his comrades, is unimpressed by Fantino's latest broadside.

In 2008, Kirkland was the victim of a Taliban ambush that killed three other soldiers. He suffered serious injuries, including the loss of 75 per cent of his hearing, a partial loss of vision and a brain injury that has left him permanently dependant on insulin.

"I was critically wounded, am on life-sustaining therapy (eight to 10 insulin injections a day) and since I have been released I have had zero coverage," he told me on Wednesday. "I am in the process of getting compensated but am currently paying over $3,000 per month for my medicine that was a direct result of serving Canada."


Kirkland says what he and those who served with him in Afghanistan want -- and what the Harper government refuses to provide -- is the same treatment veterans of earlier conflicts receive. "In 2006, the government amended the pension program which covered wounded military personnel. The changes were made months before Canada took on its largest combat mission since Korea. It was not done to look after the soldiers, but rather to save money on the backs of those who serve."


"What soldiers are fighting for now is not more financial gain but to have one standard for all," he says. "Whether it's the older (Second World War) veterans or the more recent veterans, they are coming home with the same injuries and deserve equal compensation."


Kirkland's position, resting on principles of fairness and common sense, is reasonable. The belligerent position taken by Fantino in response to veterans' concerns is not.


It raises the question: What justification is there for the minister of veterans affairs misrepresenting the plight of Canada's veterans and questioning the motives of his own departmental staff?


Since assuming the portfolio, Fantino has taken a combative, adversarial approach toward Canadian men and women who have experienced actual combat, with many having the scars to prove it. Soldiers such as Glen Kirkland.

Far from being their advocate, Fantino has repeatedly portrayed them as ingrates, malingerers and, in some cases, liars. Wednesday's salvo is the latest, and perhaps the most egregious, example.

Enough is enough. If the Harper government has any desire to repair its fractured relationship with veterans before the coming election, it starts with a new veterans affairs minister. Fantino must go.




more




Fantino failing veterans - Winnipeg Free Press

 

[tay]

Veterans groups say Ottawa spending too much remembering old wars

Money would be better used helping current veterans cope with PTSD and other problems





"I think it’s obscene," said Michael Blais, the president of Canadian Veterans Advocacy after attending a small, private ceremony in Ottawa to remember soldiers who took their own lives. There has been a recent spate of soldier suicides.


The CVA, along with other veterans' groups, believe that commemoration is important, but that it is not what matters most right now.
They want the many ceremonies that Ottawa sponsors downsized so the federal government can provide more money for veterans who are currently suffering from the ravages of war.


"The bottom line, the government’s failing their obligation to those who are living as a consequence of the money they're spending on the dead," says Blais.


The spending does add up. From 2010 to 2015, Canadian Heritage has either spent or budgeted almost $40 million on programs relating to the World Wars and the War of 1812, according to information obtained by the opposition Liberals through an access to information request.


National Defence has set aside at least $27.5 million for war commemoration from now until 2020.


Plus, Veterans Affairs has budgeted about $80 million over the next two years for remembrance activities that include the World Wars.


What we have now is a government that’s just looking for photo ops and headlines, and commemoration is one great headline," said Blais.


Some high-profile watchdogs agree. On Wednesday, Veterans ombudsman Guy Parent and Canadian Forces ombudsman Gary Walbourne pledged to work together to look into how veterans are treated in their transition back into civilian life.






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Veterans groups say Ottawa spending too much remembering old wars - Business - CBC News

 

[tay]

Upon reflection on how the Cons are treating the Vets I don't think they are concerned any longer about his electability as he seems to be following orders ............










Vocal veterans frozen out of Quebec meeting with Fantino, veterans' groups










When Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino sits down with several veterans organizations in Quebec City’s historic Citadel on Wednesday, there will be some groups on the outside looking in.


Fantino’s department has snubbed groups who’ve loudly criticized the Conservatives’ implementation of the contentious New Veterans’ Charter, freezing them out of an annual stakeholders’ meeting, which they’d previously attended.


Officials would not discuss the arrangements publicly, but the groups not invited to the Quebec meeting largely coincide with those who’ve also been exiled from the Royal Canadian Legion’s assembly of veterans organizations that meets twice yearly to consult on common issues.


The dissidents claim Veterans Affairs is colluding with the legion to isolate the government’s most vocal critics, something that both parties deny. Regardless, a sizable number of veterans won’t be represented at the table as Fantino updates others on what his department is doing.


"Minister Fantino will be at the stakeholder meeting tomorrow and looks forward to meeting with veterans, veterans stakeholders and experts on a host of issues in the continued effort to improve veterans benefits and programs," Ashlee Smith, a spokeswoman for the minister, said Tuesday via email.


Fantino's office released a list Wednesday of more than a dozen veterans' groups at the meeting, including the Legion's dominion command, the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans' dominion command, National Council of Defence Associations, groups representing NATO and UN peackeeping vets, aboriginal veterans and those who fought in Korea and Hong Kong.


Critic says Veterans Affairs want ‘subservient’ groups

Bruyea, who helped set up the dissidents’ Ottawa news conference, said he believes Fantino’s department wants relatively compliant groups at the table to give the appearance of support for its policies.


“I think the minister’s going to try to corral further the veteran community through these organizations,” he said in an interview. “They have traditionally shown themselves to be more subservient, deferential and at many times sycophantic to government.


“It really raises the question of who’s serving who here. As we’ve seen with frequent photo ops, it appears that veterans are serving government as opposed to government serving veterans.”


The legion’s Bradley White firmly believes working from the inside – letter-writing, lobbying MPs – will lead to progress on the recommended changes to the New Veterans Charter.


“We worked that scenario with the funeral and burial benefits into the last budget and it seemed to work fairly well, and we’re doing the same thing with this one as well,” White said.


But even he’s not sure what to expect when he sits down with Fantino in the Citadel on Wednesday.


“I can tell you the Royal Canadian Legion has submitted a bunch of points that it would like to see on the agenda but we have not seen the agenda,” said White.




https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dai...zen-out-of-quebec-meeting-with-153849202.html

 

[taxslave]

Maybe he just isn't interested in loudmouths that have nothing of any importance to add to the discussion.