Office of the critic for Veterans Affairs wants to hear from CSAT Memebrs

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/edmonton/soldier-with-mental-illness-wants-medical-release-1.3527286

The critic of VAC should get on this and help ttis guy.

Sorry Teen , I missed your post there , posting at the same time.

Absolutely , both BinRat and yourself have really good points , points that I want to hear.

So Thanks to both of you and keep em coming.

Thank You Rucksack !

Thanks for letter you have sent on our behalf , and for all to view. Now that's transparency. Thanks for keeping us updated on where your thoughts are in regards to this site, again transparency something the government seems to lack. Jmo I would prefer all comments in the same category, but should the mass say other wise, will adapt. Cheers

Very good point BinRat and it is something that I will consider for sure.

Just to clarify when I say subcategory , they are side by side and as the topic is being discussed it's simply a matter of post reply on either or category.
So no confusion in my view , if anything , a more efficient way of communicating.

It's difficult when one is working hard to prepare a letter from a topic , if the topic has a mixture of topics that are to be prepared with topics that are not going to be apart of the letter.
There's copy and paste , this could be several copies , parts of a topic for copy , and there's the back and forth to the topics.
If sent for proof reading , there's also a possibility of having to go back and forth several times to locate and re read topics.

Again , the objective is twofold , one to make it easier for those preparing the letter , and secondly to allow those who oppose the letter the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Have to agree with BinRat. All comments need to be in one category, good or bad. Splitting them up would make CSAT look like it's hiding something.

Sorry Trooper, Unfortunately I think Segregating the post from good comments to bad comments shouldn't be done.

For Example if I read something in your good comment section, and wanted to reply / debutt something that was said

now your saying I can't reply in that category cause it's a negative /opposed and I'd then have to post in the sub category, then
someone reading that sub category would see the post and go WTH is he referring to, because now the original post
being replied to is in another section.

If someone comes on and only goes through the Good comments, and doesn't go through the negative / oppose comments
then they will get false sense of what is going on.

Good or bad , positive negative posts should be on the same section / area this keeps it all together
and not having to keep changing section back and forth to see what the person was replying to, cause the one post
is in a different subsection.

To me that's making things more confusing.

This is Just My Opinion

Thanks for all the support Guys and Gals !

I could not send off all of the opinions/comments that were submitted from my post.
All of the opinions were good ones , but I was ask to only provide three and I went a little overboard as I could not resist.
Again , I appreciate all that participated !

For those that opposed the request , I also thank you for your input , your opinions are also important , they were posted in a respectful manner and your opinions count just as much as any other opinion on this forum.

Looking forward in the event that more outside interest is requested , I am working on several options.
One option is to create a category with a subcategory.
The main category would be for those who are willing to participate giving their comments/thoughts.
The sub category would be for those who oppose the given topic.
This way the main category would be organized to only include the comments that respond to the actual request which would result in making it easier to prepare the written response.
The sub category would allow those to give their oppose opinions which also can reflect what is given in the main category.
My objective is to both make it fair to all CSAT members , and to also make it easier to digest the info from the main category to ease somewhat preparing the response.

I am also thinking of sending a letter to our MVA asking if he would consider having one of his staff members contact me so I can set up some type of system where CSAT members could have their voices heard from CSAT via this possible new category to the MVA staff member , so the staff member can relay our voices to the MVA.
However , I'm not there yet , more thought has to be put into this.

Tx for posting the letter sent Trooper. Sorry I missed the timeline.
I agree somewhat with what Binrat posted.
Further, why do the conservatives communicate that they give a damn now?
And where was their bleeding heart of concern on our file much prior to the election?
I forgot... it's a new (conservative) world order, post harper apocalypse.

The question posed by Clarke Alupa sounds sincere (?) enough...but should be coming from JT or the MVA now.
THEY are the ones voted in power and who need to be accountable, communicate to us and Joe Canadian in the here and now.

Anyway... the question asked is:

" What are the three main comments/issues that the members of CSAT have with respect to the 2016 Budget with regards to what was announced for Veterans ? "

Issue. What was missing, no mention of lifelong pensions, helping homeless vets,

Comment. With what WAS announced in the budget, any future dialogue of progress or update ( plain english ) would be very welcomed.

Because lacking anything at all, and kept out of the loop is the definition of ignorance.

Well written Trooper. BZ

yup

propat

Good day Rida ,

On behalf of VeteransVoice.info Canadian Soldiers Assistance Team
(CSAT) I would like to thank you for contacting me in regards to your
interest in our inputs towards your upcoming meeting with our
Minister.

Further to our last conversation I would like to enlighten you as to
what we stand for , and what our main purpose or objectives are.
Canadian Solders Assistance Team is and online Forum sponsored by
VeteransVoice.info , currently our forum is 896 strong with
registered Veterans , Widows and Military serving members.
To add to the 896 registered members we also have guest members which
range in the hundreds.
Our main goal is to assist each other with all aspects of various
subjects that surrounds the well being of all Veterans.
We have a wide range of Veterans in the form of age , disabilities and
backgrounds.
We bring forward a tremendous amount of knowledge through our
experiences , and solid dedication towards working together as a team.
We embrace any party that is willing to listen to our concerns , and
work on our behalf to aid in our convictions to make things better for
all Veterans.

1. The life long pension. We want to know details on how they plan on
implementing the pension. Is it going to include those who have
received lump sum awards? Is it going to be taxable? Are they going to
use the same rates as the PA, or develop something completely
different? With updates as decisions are made.

2. ELB. Why are they changing the minimum rank for ELB? The rank of
basic Cpl was guaranteed in the CF, unless medically released prior to
4 years. So therefor their pay should be guaranteed as well for those
medically released.

3. CIA/CIAS. Since the focus is being put on career limitations versus
disability, the existing criteria will no longer be relevant, so we
need to see the new criteria to be made public ASAP, so the Veteran
community can determine whether or not the move is positive, or merely
a political shell game.

4. Why are the lump sums increased and PIA changes not
happening until 2017? There will be a completely new budget, that
could change everything, before any money is spent.

5. Are the 9 DO's that are going to re-open are they ALL going to be
fully staffed? If not how many are going to be a 2/3 person satellite
offices?

6. Is the MVA going to conduct the procedure for bringing back the
lifelong pension in an open and transparent manner that his mandate
letter stated?

Here is something you may want to take a look at sent to me by our founder ;

http://veteranvoice.info/ARCHIVE/aide_Memoire/Vet_Aide_Memoire.pdf

And finally a message sent to me by one of my members ;

"Absolutely. The lifelong pension is the biggest issue in my opinion,
because it is the only thing that will be available to every disabled
Veteran, across the board, regardless of the severity of their
disability. Even a 5 or 10 percent disability can be life changing,
and enough to end a career, but $15000, $30000, or even double those
amounts, are not life changing amounts of money, and once it's gone,
it's gone. I realize that they are not going to bring it in before the
next budget, and with until Apr 2017 for the lump sum top up and CIA
changes , we can't even trust that if the next budget does include it,
that it will available before 2018. But right now, I think we should
be informed with what types of options they have in mind. They have to
have a starting point, and as the details get hashed out, we should be
informed of them. The first info that I want some confirmation on, is
whether or not it will be tax free. If they can confirm that at least,
it will tell me what direction they are heading. I just don't want
them to keep everything hush hush, and then when it is introduced,
have it be something that is the complete opposite of what we are
looking for, when it's too late to try to make any changes."

Again thanks for taking the time and interest in contacting me , I
hope you will consider relaying what I have sent you to bring froward
to our Minister.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any future request or suggestions.

VeteransVoice.info Canadian Solders Assistance Team.

Trooper

Good day Trooper ,

Will you be posting a copy of the letter you sent to the MVA office ?

Retired Army MasterSniper
Dave Fitzpatrick

Due to the short timeline and to allow the Veterans critic time to digest our comments before attending the MVA meeting , I am comfortable with the amount of info/comments posted in reply to my request.
The letter has been completed and forwarded to the Veterans critic's office.

Here's the reply I just received ;

"Good day xxxxx,

I will look into this with the MP and surely take many of these important questions to the Minister on Tuesday. We keep in touch.

Thank you again

xxxx"

Again I would like to thank all who participated in responding , I am grateful , and very appreciative of your help !

Trooper

I knew you all would come through with excellent points !

You all hold a great deal of talent when it comes to the knowledge that surrounds the Veterans file !
Very much appreciated !

More questions:

1. Are the 9 DO's that are going to re-open are they ALL going to be fully staffed? If not how many are going to be a 2/3 person satellite offices?

2. is the MVA going to conduct the procedure for bringing back the lifelong pension in an open and transparent manner that his mandate letter stated?