Statement from the Minister with regards to the Sacred Obligation

Like the passion Nav but I have to correct you about the decline of production in Ontario. It has absolutley nothing to do with free trades. The Liberals lone decision to go green energy drove electricity to high for companies. Lack of business tax-breaks and now they want to bring in another company tax for a provincial retirement pension plan.
When free trade first came in Ontario was humming like a well oiled machine. We were getting the jobs, sending out the products and making the money.
If free trade was so bad for Canada then the Liberals under Chritien and Martin would have got rid of it after Mulroney brought it in.

ORANGE CRUSH drinking! Because if and after I get my cola I'm never going to touch the stuff again. Imagine us sitting around waiting for a cheque , paying for a cheque , it's our money but we can't even ask when and how much is owed to us. That's control we are all sheep!

Communists! What do ya call VAC? If ever there was an organization that broke people, tore them apart , made them into beggers it's VAC. The control issues that organization has and the things it has put people thru is criminal in every sense of the word. Give me Communism , I'd take that over the constant feeling of always worrying from year to year if my benefits will change or I will lose my pension., or at age 65 I lose my ltd because of a assumption by the government that I don't need any kinda of life after age 65, at least with Communism I'd know what I have and can expect. Sorry but any veteran who thinks or has been brain washed into thinking that the conservatives have are back or want to help or actually believe that we should have a no questions asked monthly paid , guaranteed pension with a decent standard of living is fooling themselves. The conservatives have never , and I mean never have accepted a system of social benefits that help the less fortunate and disabled in our society. The conservatives are capitalists who only see profit and when we can't produce profit for them as workers and interest rate slaves they'd rather just wash us down the gutter. Ask yourself why the conservatives believe in giving corporations massive state sponsored welfare but can't even provide a decent, money in the pocket cradle to grave system for veterans to live and participate in society. Right as we speak the conservatives are taking away, or trying to take away public servant sick days, a social benefit and replace it with a Short term ltd program. After our experience who in there right mind wants a sisip style or ELB style disability system? The public service doesn't because they have seen what we got, Crumbs ! Let's do something different this election time, Why not give the NDP a chance just like Alberta has ? Let's see if they will keep there promises , the Cons and liberals have not. Ask yourself what do you have to lose. I also lived thru the NDP in Ontario and they were left with a massive debt by the other parties along with the conservative bankers rallying against them. Also Ontario situation was quite different, we made things here and the jobs were great, but the conservatives got us into all these free trade agreements which destroyed the manufacturing sector. Why produce here now that you can produce in china for a buck an hour. Lots of us deployed to different countries say the results , in Korea... No foreign cars. But here Korean cars everywhere same with china and Japan and most of Europe . Free trade destroyed Ontario not the NDP and did any cons suffer, not a chance. Give yourselves a good look and ask yourself as a veteran, citizen what the hell has Harper done for me and my family.

Hmmmm this is turning into quite the political debate.....interesting

Everyone has an opinion and if that is what someone believes, then their opinion is right.......to them.

If Mr. Layton were to be amongst us, would there be a different leader? Many times people vote for the individual or the leader of the party.....sometimes that leader shoots himself/herself in the foot and the party fails to get in.

I believe; regardless who is in party, life for us won't change too drastically. There will always be an issue with; why oil/gas prices are as high as they are, schools boards will always get what they want regardless how much they make, and get summers off. The government will always spend money that many find irresponsible. For example: look how much money is spent for space exploration! who gives a rats butt if there was ever water on Mars......take that money, clean up our oceans and save millions and help us live in a clean and healthy planet Earth!

The government/politicians will always line their pockets first and make sure their cushy job gives them a whopper of a pension and who cares about the men and women who go/went to war.......died, lost limbs, got PTSD etc.

If a party gets in and real issues surface, a no-confidence vote will happen......look at Joe Clark, the youngest Prime Minister.....1979 - 1980. His tenure is calculated in months not years. Was he voted in or was his party? And look at which party is in power now! The same party!! how does that happen!! And some are afraid to go NDP......

I am not afraid to say I am going to go NDP....if they fail.....someone else will replace them.... Most Canadians are pacifists.......But I do believe the backbone to what this country is (veterans) are tired of being treated like we are not worthy and tired of the politicians throwing us crumbs and wanting recognition that they are doing a bang-up job and wanting us to be dumb enough to believe they have us in their best interests (all the while they get closer to their magical 6 years for a life long pension) and us veterans have to go to war with our own country/government because they truly don't give a ......you know what.

Lawsuit, lawsuit, lawsuit......

Riddick

Actually Harper was a Economist. Very well respected number cruncher. I always thought he would have been a great Minister of Finance under a free more open thinking Prime Minister. His choice s PM was a poor one but look who was his competition Bolinda Stronach!
Rags

Nav if ya believe that part about the Debt then you would not believe the NDP or others wise known as closet communists would be a good vote.

RCN. I respect your opinion, but you have a problem with Trudeau because you feel that being a teacher before getting into Politics isn't enough experience to become PM? What experience did Harper have? He worked ina mail room for an oil company, and then preston Manning's constituency office. To me that doesn't sound nearly as worldly as what we have done. Some say JT is too young, even though he is turn 44 just after the election, and Harper was only 45 when he was first elected PM. So I really do not see how people can base their opinion on JT, when Harper is no better on paper.

Show me the money! That's the only thing anyone should care about! You only live once that's it , so if your service caused your life to be shortened or to cause you and your family suffering , we need programs that put money into veterans pockets with no conditions! If you put conditions on it , then it's no different thn welfare. But why worry what this government or any western government does, read the Bank of Canada thinking about raising the inflation numbers, why! . ? Because the debt that has occurred in western governments is beyond repayable they plan on inflating the debt away and they will. The losers will be the people

Some interesting reading, I am surprised that O'Toole is not getting much credit for at least trying to right some wrongs. I like most of you spent 30 years serving under mainly Liberal governments, and as arrogant as Mr. Harper been at times I would take the Conservatives any day of the week over the Liberals. What do we have, a school teacher with no experience set to perhaps be the next PM and it seems all is well. Now don't get me wrong I think that Harper has put us vets through the ringer but I am told the force is better under him than it was under the Liberals. The one shared trademark that most if not all politicians have is the ability to talk out of both sides of their head. I cannot believe that any party will simply change everything that needs to with a stroke of the pen, I cannot be that naive. So despite my lack of trust towards Harper I will stick with him as the devil you know over the devil you don't.

well im thinking they are probably righting those checks they cant cash just like the other two parties yes IF that's what they are doing we would be in as much trouble as we know we will be in if one of the other two parties get in.

I just think since the other two parties have presided over the largest cuts to disabled vets benefits in the history of this country in the spirit of equality we should give these guys a shot at fracking us over as well. I mean hey after the historic fracking we just took I think we are ready for it.

im sure we can all point out examples of the lib, con and ndp provincial parties fracking things up . im just not into equating these to a national party . I know what the national lib and con parties HAVE fracked us over royally just as much as the NDP MAY do .

but hey they might mean what they say .

ya im very skeptical im sure you all know this but I do still have some hope.

propat

I know one thing that is either going to change people's minds or blow it totally up is the regulations for all the new benefits.

Normally regulations first then vote, debate, correct, vote, ascend is the procedure but the regs are so far ahead of the cart right now the possibility of the horse to wander off is viable. That's what the OVO is waiting for the regulations before they dig into it and assess the benefits. In other words there could be some jewels or Saskatchewan road apples.

Oh FYI Rex Recommendation 4 throw that out with the bath water. Even the OVO couldn't get a proper explanation from ACVA on that, yes and Stoffer couldn't even explain it. So practically everyone has abandonded that because of the lack of ability to answer what the frack the recommendation meant.

Recommendation 3 they did 'technically' do what was asked but yeah not reduce it. Only thing they complied with is that something is left for the spouse.

The 85% bump and not raising the lump sum to the national avg is going to be the reason the Equitas lawsuit will go on. Not to mention giving the advocates another crack at making it 100%.

I witnessed what an NDP gov't did in Ontario and it wasn't pretty. Their one big promise was to start a provincial auto insurance plan but the Insurance Companies scared them and they folded. Taxed everything, gave the union too much that Rae Days (mandatory days without pay) had to be forced on them.

If the NDP wins the next election they better not write cheques they can't cash (or balance the checkbook) or we are all in trouble.

Like I've said before I look at all the parties, platforms, promises then I decide who gets my vote.

oh pinger I fully expect he will and actually does at this time. ya he cant do much but he can say a lot . im sure anything he says has to follow certain guidelines and anything he puts in print would probably need to be vetted first . the closer to the election the tighter the reigns' will get

propat

"Since almost all of my reforms were agreed upon by all parties last year I had hoped they would help me achieve swift passage of these reforms but that hope seems to have disappeared."

What a piece of pure BS. If he spread that stuff around on the crops, we would have ten foot pieces of corn. The only thing his "reforms" brought forward, and the recommendations made last year, have in common is a few titles like ELB and PIA. They took the recommendations, cut off all the meat, boiled them down to the bone, snapped them open, sucked out the marrow, then ground the rest into a paste, and called it significant changes.

RECOMMENDATION 3

That the most seriously disabled veterans receive financial benefits for life, of which an appropriate portion should be transferable to their spouse in the event of death, that Veterans Affairs Canada consider the use of a probable earnings approach in determining the amount of the benefits, and include better access to the three grades of the permanent impairment allowance, for which eligibility criteria must be clarified.

They did not recommend drastically reducing benefits, nor does it mention making it beneficial to those without a military pension. Also, even thought he PIA eligibility has loosened, nothing has been addressed to ensure that the majority are not just given the base amount.

RECOMMENDATION 4

That the earnings loss benefit be non-taxable and set at 85% of net income, up to a net income threshold of $70,000, that it be adjusted annually to the consumer price index, and that for veterans who participate in a rehabilitation program, the disability award be paid once the program is completed.

Absolutely no action on this recommendation whatsoever.

RECOMMENDATION 8

That Veterans Affairs Canada undertake a comprehensive review of the amount of the disability award to more adequately reflect awards in civil liability cases for personal injuries, implement a transparent and clear process for determining its value, and improve support for financial counselling throughout the process.

The CIB fails to bring equity to every disabled Veteran, even amongst other Veterans, let alone compared to civie street, since the criteria for the benefit is very limiting.

well teen ive never seen a federal NDP party so I really don't know if they will break with there promises like the rest just kind of assume they will as they are after all politicians.

but if its just a big pack of lies it the best pack of lies ive seen so far lol waiting for the rest to role in as im expecting in a few months.

im not as worried about bureaucrat's as some are ive seen parties pass laws and acts the bureaucrats hated because it cost them lots of jobs . the politicians just need to pass the legislation and it must be followed . I get legal challenges but nothing in that paper seems to be challengeable .

the programs announced will help some but RELITIVELY speaking not a lot at least in my opinion .

cant tell you how ALL disabled vets feel but I know how ALL the disabled vets on the NVC I know fell about the new benefits .

excitement and hope pre announcement , confusion post announcement , and dismay and disappointment when they were able to figure it all out .

as a newfie put it to me its a patata just a boild frackin patata , I didn't expect a steak from these guys but throw in a piece of balona and a couple of frackin carrots for frack sakes .

sorry about the spelling I don't have a newfi dictionary but ya get the point.

all they really want is equality . you know to be treated the same as you and me .

it sounds a little crazy in this day and age especially in this politically charged environment . to me though equality does not seem like an unreasonable request at least to me .

as a politician to give you a straight answer to these questions and you will get just that to a couple even though they hate giving straight answers to anything .

1. do you think people of color deserve the same rights and benefits as all other people in this country ? you will get a straight answer to that .

2. do you think people of a different religion deserve the same rights and benefits as all other people in this country ? you will get a straight answer to that .

3. do you think women deserve the same rights and benefits as all other people in this country ? you will get a straight answer to that .

4. do you think a disabled afghan vet deserves the same rights and benefits as all other disabled vets in this country ? nothing but spin spin spin . that's it that's all.

fully agree about the libs on the LTD that sucked but I was a lifelong tory till 06 so it didn't really didn't exactly change my voting habits at the time but will figure into my future voting decisions .

propat

Well, then Trudeau should be broadsided by it. Bear in mind, if veterans did that the cons would love the distraction.

About strings, leashes, and puppets I agree with you propat. GoC could have the best ministers ever but the Prime Minister can swat them away.
Say for instance Mulcair was elected in the upcoming election, and Peter Stoffer became the VAC minister. Don't think for a moment he would not have a leash.

JMO. If Harper was the leader of ANY party. Get rid of him. I would not like to see him as the leader of ANY party. Blue, Red, Orange, or Green.

Besides, He reminds me too much of my domineering, control freak ex mother-in-law.

pinger.