As you know I think Justin Trudeau and his government are doing an amazing job of destroying Stephen Harper's foul legacy.
And have made this country a better place to live in, as well as restored our image abroad.
But that doesn't mean that I agree with everything they are doing.
And I definitely don't agree with this decision.
Justice department lawyers will revive legal arguments advanced by the former Harper government to try to block a lawsuit by six Afghan war veterans intent on restoring pensions for injured and wounded soldiers.
The government's handpicked lawyers will argue 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."
I don't like it because I'm against anything that brings back bad memories of the Harper years...
I don't agree with it because I believe that this country should have a social covenant with soldiers wounded in the service of their country.
And it was a campaign promise.
The Liberal platform in the last election explicitly promised to restore the pension benefit. "We will re-establish lifelong pensions as an option for our injured veterans, and increase the value of the disability award," the platform reads.
So it should not be broken, especially not after the way our vets helped us defeat the Harper regime...
Now I realize that the Trudeau government has allocated more than $4.6 billion over the next three years to boost support for veterans. It has re-opened offices the Cons had closed, and it has increased the disability award.
While also boosting the earnings loss benefit for injured veterans, and expanding access to the permanent impairment allowance.
All of which are huge steps in the right direction, and have made Justin a hero for most vets...
For they understand only too well what might have happened if Harper hadn't been defeated...
Unlike Trudeau haters like the Mound of Sound who is already out of the gate, oozing bile out of every pore, never mentioning the almost $5 billion dollars the Liberals have given the vets.
And making it sound like the Trudeau government has done nothing for our vets, and that Justin is worse than Harper.
As only he could could.
But it is yet another reason why the Liberals need to go the extra mile, deep six that court case, reaffirm that sacred social covenant with our veterans.
And destroy what remains of Harper's legacy...
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8 comments:
Sunny ways my friend....Sunny ways!!!!!! Voted for Change....Got much of the Same!!!!! It must be inherit habit for the federal governments to attack Veterans and Natives!!!!!! It seems that once a politician steps on the hill their moral compass somehow leaves their body!!!!!!! I must admit that the current Federal government as been very long on talk but very short on walk!!!!!!! FP
Gov't, Senate, opposition, protest, courts, debate etc are all parts of the sausage making of democracy. Sincere effort, input and compromise should move us in the progressive direction and betterment of all. More input equals wider buy in and shared ownership. So weather its assisted end of life or veteran benefits I'll wait to see how things shake out before lighting my hair on fire. At least the Liberals are trying to move the ball in the right direction. The Cons hide from the one issue because their base would have lost their shit. On the veterans they were all talk and cuts and delays in reality. DN
Glad you wrote about this. News of this is not good.
TS
.. Thank you Simon .. Its 6 severely disabled vets who also survived the onslaught of Harper's lawyers.. in expectation a 'sacred obligation' would hold fast. Now Justin Trudeau & a horde of clerks, lawyers, Ministers, supportive whipped Public Servant MP egg suckers also fumble, and badly, one of the fundamental Canadian Values.. 'to you from failing hands we pass the torch, be yours to hold it high'.. Dude Justin .. letting Minister Hehr in a wheelchair state.. something to the extent of 'at some time in the indeterminate future' this will be resolved.. presumably with honor, respect & alacrity.. is uh.. beneath contempt. Smacks of Harper era 'in the fulsomeness of time' .. Thought you had some grit .. this one sucks.. get a grip.. and look after the Six Wounded Warriors
hi anon...well we'll see about that. A government that gives the vets $5 billion dollars still seems pretty sunny to me...
hi DN...yes I will too. I think the government is moving in the right direction, so it should be given more time to show us what it can do. And whatever it does it's already a hundred times better than the foul Harper regime...
hi TS...I was very proud to work with the veterans during the last election campaign, and although they have already received a major boost from the Trudeau government, this court case is puzzling to me. I can't get a proper explanation from the minister, so as I said they should deep six it immediately....
hi salamander...yes, I don't understand how the government can be so generous with one hand and so cheap with the other. It doesn't make sense. And seeing them use the same arguments as the Harper regime against severely disabled vets in simply not on. And while it's true that some disability benefits have been increased, it doesn't look good, the social covenant is something sacred and Canadian, and they better have a more reasonable explanation than the one they have provided so far. I am prepared to give the Trudeau government a lot of slack, because they are a huge step in the right direction, but they shouldn't screw around with my friends the vets...
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