the usual disclaimer:
NDP call for military program reforms
Jul 18, 2007 04:38 PM
Alison Auld
Canadian press
HALIFAX–Kevin Landry fumbles for one of the prescription pill bottles in his pocket and explains how he had to increase his dosage Wednesday morning just to make it out the door.
The Canadian Forces veteran suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder linked to his service in Bosnia and Croatia in 1995, and rarely leaves the seclusion of his rural Nova Scotia home.
But Landry, slight and soft-spoken, wanted to join several other veterans in Halifax as they criticized the federal government for clawing back their disability payments and leaving many of them on the brink of financial ruin.
"It's not a question of whether we'll go bankrupt next week or next month – it's every day," he said at a news conference. "The first day that you join the military, they tell you that if you get hurt they will take care of you and your family, and that is the biggest lie."
Under the military insurance plan, injured veterans are entitled to a percentage of their former salaries. But the plan treats monthly pension payments as income and deducts the pension amount from what is paid to former Forces members.
Landry, 33, loses about $1,700 a month in clawbacks and estimates the practice has cost him $40,000 since he began receiving his Veterans Affairs pension after his release in 2005.
Landry, who takes eight pills a day to control panic attacks and other ailments, has joined dozens of other veterans from across the country in a class-action lawsuit against the government to end the controversial clawback.
Dennis Manuge, a Nova Scotia veteran who filed the suit last March, said the case illustrates how poorly the federal Conservatives treat veterans who have been hurt serving their country, yet have to fight to get benefits.
"The bottom line is we are having money stolen from us," he said angrily as veterans from the Korean and Second World Wars looked on. "It just doesn't make sense. We are owed a certain debt of gratitude by the government."
Defence officials have said the department is reviewing the issue and "wants to make a decision that is fair to all members and former members of the Canadian Forces balanced with fiscal accountability to Canadian taxpayers."
Manuge said there are up to 6,000 veterans across the country whose disability pensions are being clawed back, putting the cost of stopping it and reimbursing veterans at around $320 million.
A military ombudsman has also called on the government to get rid of the clawback, describing it as "profoundly unfair."
Veterans also criticized the Conservatives for failing to move quickly enough to extend the national veterans independence program, which provides housekeeping, home maintenance and home-care services for 97,000 eligible veterans, their spouses and widows.
Access is restricted and many veterans or their spouses have been denied claims.
When he was Opposition leader in 2005, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised in writing that a Conservative government would ``immediately" expand the program at a cost of about $300 million a year.
But Harper has said an expansion won't come until the next budget. Veterans Affairs also has to complete a review of its programs before proceeding with any changes.
Chris Beattie's husband became ill and later died after helping in the cleanup of a nuclear spill in Chalk River, Ont., in 1958 while he was doing basic training at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa.
She said the federal government is failing widows who tended to their husbands round the clock rather than put them in nursing homes.
"I find it an embarrassment that I have to beg (Veterans Affairs) to acknowledge the promise that was made in 1999 and again in 2005 that we the widows would be taken care of," said Beattie.
Peter Stoffer, the NDP's veterans affairs critic, said he has repeatedly asked the government to eliminate the clawback and extend the veterans independence program, but has been stonewalled.
"Supporting our troops doesn't just mean when they're wearing the uniform – it means supporting them throughout their lives," Stoffer said.
Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson said the government is committed to moving ahead, but can't reform the programs "overnight."
"We're dealing with many issues that have been left over by successive Liberal governments and so we can't fix everything in one day," he said in an interview from his riding in St. Stephen, N.B. http://www.thestar.com/News/article/237365
