From a Conservative: Our Government is failing our Veterans
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Veterans Affairs: Managers reaped rewards after cuts
Veterans Affairs Canada managers made hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses for cutting costs as the department shed hundreds of jobs.
In 2011-12, the department paid $343,000 to 60 managers under what appears to be a new program for “Savings/Spending Targets.” No such bonuses were given out in previous years.
Bonuses ranged from $2,376 up to $14,728, and averaged about $5,700 per person, said a departmental response to a question tabled by Sen. Percy Downe of Prince Edward Island.
The following year, $243,000 was paid out to 55 managers, an average of $4,400 each.
At the same time, the department cut hundreds of jobs. In 2010-11, Veterans Affairs had 3,708 employees. By 2013-14, the department dropped 658 jobs to 3,050 positions.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper downplayed the cut jobs as “backroom administration” and “bureaucracy.”
While the number of employees fell, payments to veterans did not. The department’s budget has remained steady and sits at $3.5 billion, slightly above what it was five years ago.
The department said the reason for cutting jobs is a decline in the number of veterans it serves over the past five years, as well as new reforms to cut red tape.
The number of Veterans Affairs clients has dropped, although not at the same rate as the cuts. The number of people who received support from Veterans Affairs dropped from about 220,000 in 2008 to 205,000 this year, said the department.
That is a drop of about seven per cent. Over that same time frame, the department reduced its staffing by about 1,000 full-time jobs, or almost 25 per cent.
NDP veterans affairs critic Peter Stoffer said paying out over half a million dollars in bonuses while cutting staff will infuriate veterans.
“I just find that absolutely appalling,” said Stoffer, who represents Sackville-Eastern Shore.
“It’s quite sad to be honest with you.”
more
Veterans Affairs: Managers reaped rewards after cuts | The Chronicle Herald
Veterans Affairs Canada managers made hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses for cutting costs as the department shed hundreds of jobs.
In 2011-12, the department paid $343,000 to 60 managers under what appears to be a new program for “Savings/Spending Targets.” No such bonuses were given out in previous years.
Bonuses ranged from $2,376 up to $14,728, and averaged about $5,700 per person, said a departmental response to a question tabled by Sen. Percy Downe of Prince Edward Island.
The following year, $243,000 was paid out to 55 managers, an average of $4,400 each.
At the same time, the department cut hundreds of jobs. In 2010-11, Veterans Affairs had 3,708 employees. By 2013-14, the department dropped 658 jobs to 3,050 positions.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper downplayed the cut jobs as “backroom administration” and “bureaucracy.”
While the number of employees fell, payments to veterans did not. The department’s budget has remained steady and sits at $3.5 billion, slightly above what it was five years ago.
The department said the reason for cutting jobs is a decline in the number of veterans it serves over the past five years, as well as new reforms to cut red tape.
The number of Veterans Affairs clients has dropped, although not at the same rate as the cuts. The number of people who received support from Veterans Affairs dropped from about 220,000 in 2008 to 205,000 this year, said the department.
That is a drop of about seven per cent. Over that same time frame, the department reduced its staffing by about 1,000 full-time jobs, or almost 25 per cent.
NDP veterans affairs critic Peter Stoffer said paying out over half a million dollars in bonuses while cutting staff will infuriate veterans.
“I just find that absolutely appalling,” said Stoffer, who represents Sackville-Eastern Shore.
“It’s quite sad to be honest with you.”
more
Veterans Affairs: Managers reaped rewards after cuts | The Chronicle Herald
Veterans Affairs shrank 21 per cent from a high of 3,904 in 2008-09 to 3,085 in 2013-14 as the government cut spending to balance the federal budget. That left the department with its smallest workforce since 1998-99, when it had 3,037 employees.
Injured ex-soldiers are being forced to wait longer for support from the government as the number of employees working at Veterans Affairs Canada has fallen to levels not seen since before the war in Afghanistan.
The revelation is contained in internal briefing notes for Veterans Affairs Minister Erin O’Toole, poking holes in the Conservative government’s assertions that recent budget cuts and layoffs at the department have not affected frontline service.
Veterans Affairs Canada spokeswoman Janice Summerby said the department will hire more than 100 new disability benefits staff, “both temporary and permanent, to help ensure veterans receive faster decisions on disability benefit applications.
But critics say the documents prove the government cut too far and too deep at Veterans Affairs, while the new hires are a drop in the bucket of what’s needed.
“The layoffs have had a detrimental impact,” said NDP veterans affairs critic Peter Stoffer. “They’re scrambling to rehire people now, but you need a lot more people than that.”
The briefing notes obtained by the Citizen through the access to information law were prepared for O’Toole upon his appointment as veterans affairs minister in January. They provide a historic look at staffing levels within the department, as well as where recent cuts have been made.
“The processing is going down because there are fewer people to do the processing,” said Liberal veterans affairs critic Frank Valeriote. “They cut Veterans Affairs to have money to spend during an election year to pander for votes.”
Veterans issues are shaping up to be a ballot box question for some Canadians heading into the October election. O’Toole has made a series of announcements since January in response to sharp criticism over the government’s treatment of former military personnel.
However, he has not said when the 100 new staff will be hired.
more
Staffing cuts at Veterans Affairs hit frontline service | Ottawa Citizen
Injured ex-soldiers are being forced to wait longer for support from the government as the number of employees working at Veterans Affairs Canada has fallen to levels not seen since before the war in Afghanistan.
The revelation is contained in internal briefing notes for Veterans Affairs Minister Erin O’Toole, poking holes in the Conservative government’s assertions that recent budget cuts and layoffs at the department have not affected frontline service.
Veterans Affairs Canada spokeswoman Janice Summerby said the department will hire more than 100 new disability benefits staff, “both temporary and permanent, to help ensure veterans receive faster decisions on disability benefit applications.
But critics say the documents prove the government cut too far and too deep at Veterans Affairs, while the new hires are a drop in the bucket of what’s needed.
“The layoffs have had a detrimental impact,” said NDP veterans affairs critic Peter Stoffer. “They’re scrambling to rehire people now, but you need a lot more people than that.”
The briefing notes obtained by the Citizen through the access to information law were prepared for O’Toole upon his appointment as veterans affairs minister in January. They provide a historic look at staffing levels within the department, as well as where recent cuts have been made.
“The processing is going down because there are fewer people to do the processing,” said Liberal veterans affairs critic Frank Valeriote. “They cut Veterans Affairs to have money to spend during an election year to pander for votes.”
Veterans issues are shaping up to be a ballot box question for some Canadians heading into the October election. O’Toole has made a series of announcements since January in response to sharp criticism over the government’s treatment of former military personnel.
However, he has not said when the 100 new staff will be hired.
more
Staffing cuts at Veterans Affairs hit frontline service | Ottawa Citizen
At least for certain services, could a voucher system not help? That way the veteran and not the government is the employer, plus it opens it up to private sector competition.
I don't know if what I just typed above is a good idea, but just throwing it out as part of a brainstorm.
How are you defining spending?
There has been cutbacks in the VA personnel pool which has created a backlog in service to the Veterans who deserve to be respected and treated with the utmost honour for their service to Canada........
Nine veterans affairs offices controversially closed under the former Conservative government will reopen within a year, according to Veterans Affairs minister Kent Hehr.
Another major pledge is to reinstate lifelong pensions for veterans, something advocacy groups have long pushed for.
Hehr said that promise will take longer than a year to fulfill.
“Look, we want to get this right not done quickly,” he said. “This is complex. There’s very many different streams of veterans’ supports and options out there and it’s not a magic wand that I have that can just say roll them all into one.”
more
Veterans Affairs offices to reopen within a year: Hehr - National | Globalnews.ca
Liberal MP's flyer wrongly tells constituents Liberals restored veterans' pensions
A Liberal MP has sent flyers to his constituents touting the government's record on the veterans file, claiming it has already restored lifetime pensions for wounded veterans — when in fact it has done no such thing.
CBC News first reported last month that the Liberal government is actually taking veterans, who are pushing for the restoration of this benefit, back to court after a legal truce of sorts reached by the former Conservative government expired in May.
Justice department lawyers are now purportedly advancing the same legal arguments used during the Harper era, namely that Canada does not have a social contract or covenant with veterans, and that a "scheme providing benefits cannot be said to amount to a deprivation merely because claimant views the benefits as insufficient."
But a flyer sent to constituents in Robert-Falcon Ouelette's Winnipeg Centre riding presents a list of of "Some of what we've done (so far)," and includes "Reformed veteran's benefits and the delivery of services to veterans, including bringing back lifelong pensions for injured vets," among other achievements.
The flyers — which are colloquially called "10 percenters" or "householders" — caught the attention of one of Ouelette's constituents, Bill Paolini, the father of an Afghan war veteran who has been following the Equitas lawsuit and the prolonged struggle by the plaintiffs in that case to secure pensions for injured veterans.
"Personally, I think he's trying to pull the wool over people's eyes," Paolini said of the MP's flyer. "I think he should retract the flyer and issue a correction and apologize. It's very deceptive to think that that went out to the whole riding."
Paolini said he donated money to the Ouellete campaign, and voted for the Liberal party in the last election in part because of its promise to help veterans like his son, who fought primarily in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan.
His son would not be entitled to a wounded veteran pension even if it is restored, he said, but he has a vested interest in seeing other soldiers who face crippling mental and physical ailments get their fare share from the government they served.
"It makes me feel like I've been lied to. I really thought the Trudeau government was going to do something. That's one of the big reasons why I voted for the party, was because of their stand on veterans and making things right for them. I feel like the I've been let down and I've been led down the garden path," he said.
Paolini reached out to Ouellette's office after receiving the flyer in the mail, asking for an explanation but received an answer with information about different programs.
He also sent an e-mail to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office with a heartfelt plea: "Do the honourable and right thing and restore the veteran's pensions. Don't make them fight the battles they have already fought. Don't let them suffer any longer," he wrote.
When contacted by CBC News, Ouellette's office said that the reference to "lifelong pensions" was an error.
Liberal MP's flyer wrongly tells constituents Liberals restored veterans' pensions - Politics - CBC News
A Liberal MP has sent flyers to his constituents touting the government's record on the veterans file, claiming it has already restored lifetime pensions for wounded veterans — when in fact it has done no such thing.
CBC News first reported last month that the Liberal government is actually taking veterans, who are pushing for the restoration of this benefit, back to court after a legal truce of sorts reached by the former Conservative government expired in May.
Justice department lawyers are now purportedly advancing the same legal arguments used during the Harper era, namely that Canada does not have a social contract or covenant with veterans, and that a "scheme providing benefits cannot be said to amount to a deprivation merely because claimant views the benefits as insufficient."
But a flyer sent to constituents in Robert-Falcon Ouelette's Winnipeg Centre riding presents a list of of "Some of what we've done (so far)," and includes "Reformed veteran's benefits and the delivery of services to veterans, including bringing back lifelong pensions for injured vets," among other achievements.
The flyers — which are colloquially called "10 percenters" or "householders" — caught the attention of one of Ouelette's constituents, Bill Paolini, the father of an Afghan war veteran who has been following the Equitas lawsuit and the prolonged struggle by the plaintiffs in that case to secure pensions for injured veterans.
"Personally, I think he's trying to pull the wool over people's eyes," Paolini said of the MP's flyer. "I think he should retract the flyer and issue a correction and apologize. It's very deceptive to think that that went out to the whole riding."
Paolini said he donated money to the Ouellete campaign, and voted for the Liberal party in the last election in part because of its promise to help veterans like his son, who fought primarily in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan.
His son would not be entitled to a wounded veteran pension even if it is restored, he said, but he has a vested interest in seeing other soldiers who face crippling mental and physical ailments get their fare share from the government they served.
"It makes me feel like I've been lied to. I really thought the Trudeau government was going to do something. That's one of the big reasons why I voted for the party, was because of their stand on veterans and making things right for them. I feel like the I've been let down and I've been led down the garden path," he said.
Paolini reached out to Ouellette's office after receiving the flyer in the mail, asking for an explanation but received an answer with information about different programs.
He also sent an e-mail to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office with a heartfelt plea: "Do the honourable and right thing and restore the veteran's pensions. Don't make them fight the battles they have already fought. Don't let them suffer any longer," he wrote.
When contacted by CBC News, Ouellette's office said that the reference to "lifelong pensions" was an error.
Liberal MP's flyer wrongly tells constituents Liberals restored veterans' pensions - Politics - CBC News
Most of us were disgusted when the CONS did this and I am equally disgusted that the Libs are as well. Haprepers Canada in treating it's veterans was not my Canada and Trudeau's Canada is not mine either.
The following sums it up nicely.....
And yes, this was one of his promises.
https://www.trudeaumetre.ca/promise/7601
You just can't get much lower than to betray Canada's wounded veterans. Yet now we have Justin giving us another unwanted glimpse of his true Harperian nature.
His government is doing something that will rightfully disgust most Canadians. It is going to court to revive the Harperian argument that Canada does not have a social contract or covenant to care for our war wounded.
My father lived with the benefit of that covenant from 1944 until his death seven years ago. He was horribly wounded in WWII while serving as an infantry lieutenant. Canada - at least my Canada as distinguished from this prime minister's - was on his side from the day he left the military hospital right to the day he died when we had to call to say the cleaning lady would no longer be needed.
The only way the relationship between the disabled vet and the nation can work is a covenant. Harper thought he could have somebody do some math and just write a cheque, sending the disabled vet on his way. That's not the way it works.
A veteran usually takes some time to recover, to get back on his feet (if he still has them). Then he might do pretty well for a while, ten or twenty years. Maybe, maybe not. He may be just fine one day and collapse in a pool of blood at death's doorstep the next. And then as he gets old those wounds return. The normal aging process and decline can quickly turn tougher, more dangerous.
The VA people used to be proactive. They didn't wait for you to ask. They checked, found out how you were doing and what you needed, figured out what they could do to help. If, as in my dad's case, the veteran winds up caring for his elderly spouse, that can be a real bugger. When that happened the VA people stepped in to shoulder part of the load.
It's the government that makes the call to send these people into harm's way. When they make that decision, knowing that some will die and some will be maimed, the country takes on a solemn responsibility to those soldiers and to their families. These people can be ordered into situations where their death is probable, at times even certain. We don't put civilians in that situation. There's a difference. It's in that fundamental difference that the covenant arises. It is beyond shameful for a government to deny it.
The following sums it up nicely.....
And yes, this was one of his promises.
https://www.trudeaumetre.ca/promise/7601
You just can't get much lower than to betray Canada's wounded veterans. Yet now we have Justin giving us another unwanted glimpse of his true Harperian nature.
His government is doing something that will rightfully disgust most Canadians. It is going to court to revive the Harperian argument that Canada does not have a social contract or covenant to care for our war wounded.
My father lived with the benefit of that covenant from 1944 until his death seven years ago. He was horribly wounded in WWII while serving as an infantry lieutenant. Canada - at least my Canada as distinguished from this prime minister's - was on his side from the day he left the military hospital right to the day he died when we had to call to say the cleaning lady would no longer be needed.
The only way the relationship between the disabled vet and the nation can work is a covenant. Harper thought he could have somebody do some math and just write a cheque, sending the disabled vet on his way. That's not the way it works.
A veteran usually takes some time to recover, to get back on his feet (if he still has them). Then he might do pretty well for a while, ten or twenty years. Maybe, maybe not. He may be just fine one day and collapse in a pool of blood at death's doorstep the next. And then as he gets old those wounds return. The normal aging process and decline can quickly turn tougher, more dangerous.
The VA people used to be proactive. They didn't wait for you to ask. They checked, found out how you were doing and what you needed, figured out what they could do to help. If, as in my dad's case, the veteran winds up caring for his elderly spouse, that can be a real bugger. When that happened the VA people stepped in to shoulder part of the load.
It's the government that makes the call to send these people into harm's way. When they make that decision, knowing that some will die and some will be maimed, the country takes on a solemn responsibility to those soldiers and to their families. These people can be ordered into situations where their death is probable, at times even certain. We don't put civilians in that situation. There's a difference. It's in that fundamental difference that the covenant arises. It is beyond shameful for a government to deny it.
A group of severely wounded military veterans claimed a victory in its years-long battle for better benefits from the Canadian government, which they accuse of treating them differently than soldiers from earlier wars.
Justice Harvey Groberman of British Columbia Appeal Court said on Friday the court will consider whether to take into account contradictions between the government's current legal position and the stand the federal Liberals took during the election.
In court documents the government says it does not owe an "extraordinary obligation" to modern-day veterans, but Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr reaffirmed in a news release on Friday the government's electoral promise to uphold Canada's "sacred obligation."
The Trudeau government's position in court was initially held by the Conservative government before the Tories changed their stance in December 2014 after a public backlash.
Don Sorochan, the lawyer representing the veterans, told the court the federal government shouldn't be allowed to adopt a position it previously abandoned, especially after passing a unanimous resolution last year affirming Canada's "moral, social, legal and fiduciary" duty to its injured and disabled military members.
The federal government's move to revert back to its 2014 stance amounts to an abuse of process in the courts, he said.
"You can't have politicians going around making promises and then saying they don't mean it" when it comes to constitutional obligations around Canada's "sacred covenant" with soldiers, Sorochan said outside court.
He described the sacred, or social, covenant as the long-standing obligation the country has to citizens who fought on its behalf and contributed to "the independent and free Canada we now enjoy."
580 CFRA News Talk Radio :: Judge in wounded veterans case agrees to consider government contradictions :: News - National Article
Justice Harvey Groberman of British Columbia Appeal Court said on Friday the court will consider whether to take into account contradictions between the government's current legal position and the stand the federal Liberals took during the election.
In court documents the government says it does not owe an "extraordinary obligation" to modern-day veterans, but Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr reaffirmed in a news release on Friday the government's electoral promise to uphold Canada's "sacred obligation."
The Trudeau government's position in court was initially held by the Conservative government before the Tories changed their stance in December 2014 after a public backlash.
Don Sorochan, the lawyer representing the veterans, told the court the federal government shouldn't be allowed to adopt a position it previously abandoned, especially after passing a unanimous resolution last year affirming Canada's "moral, social, legal and fiduciary" duty to its injured and disabled military members.
The federal government's move to revert back to its 2014 stance amounts to an abuse of process in the courts, he said.
"You can't have politicians going around making promises and then saying they don't mean it" when it comes to constitutional obligations around Canada's "sacred covenant" with soldiers, Sorochan said outside court.
He described the sacred, or social, covenant as the long-standing obligation the country has to citizens who fought on its behalf and contributed to "the independent and free Canada we now enjoy."
580 CFRA News Talk Radio :: Judge in wounded veterans case agrees to consider government contradictions :: News - National Article