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

May I also suggest that mbrs have a look at the Veteran's Aide Mémoire at:
http://veteranvoice.info/ARCHIVE/aide_Memoire/Vet_Aide_Memoire.pdf

Howie, call VAC and ask about applying for ELB and PIA/PIAS, because you are no longer able to work. They should send out a CM for a home visit, if you live near a district office. if not, they will tell you to submit an application for the rehab program. What I did was apply for them all at once, and once the rehab was approved, the process for the others kicked in. They should also sent you for a functionality assessment for determining TPI. And don't worry about the time limits, I released several years before I started collecting benefits.

I do have a question for them if they are interested in actually helping people with the transition and its a pretty easy question.
Why can things not be simplified? When I was forced to retire no one ever explained what things I would be eligible or not eligible for. I mean it got to the point of being stupid. For example when I retired SISIP said I could go back to school and finish my degree off. I said great I need 3 years to finish but could not afford to do it by myself. They said not a problem so I started school and part way through the first year I find out they only will pay for the first year and nothing else. What idiot came up with this stuff?

Ive been retired for 7 years and looking through everything on every site I know of and I still cant make heads or tails of what I should even be looking at or for. Now we have more abbreviations than we can shake a stick at. PIA, ELB, CIA, DEC, RISB, CIB... I mean are we supposed to be putting together a jigsaw puzzle here? Do I qualify through sisip, or something else. Do I qualify for vac rehab or something else? I guess I brought it on myself because I chose to try and keep working at least part time with the help of a really good friend and since I chose to not do the vac rehab at the time, I haven't heard boo from VAC for about 4 years. Now with my body breaking down to the point of not being able to continue working, my calls to them have not been returned. So it appears I'm left to fend for myself.

All I can say is STOP making it impossible to wade through the bureaucracy and actually make it simple for people to navigate and to find what the heck they are eligible for. It is like they are purposely making it difficult to figure this stuff out to stop people from even applying for things.

First figure out who the heck will be the lead agency in charge of things, either VAC or DND or SISIP and then get rid of all the damn abbreviations and just make 1 or 2 bloody categories and have certain levels of those. Each successive government seems hell bent on adding to the bureaucracy by adding more terms that nobody knows if they qualify for.

Well Trooper, I'm ago with Bigrex, Teen, sparrow. Since I'm not a politician, my thought process is what is best for vets. So I have to look at all and any avenue that may advance our cause. So anytime I see a door open, I kinda like to stick my head in for a look. And I fully respect others views on this matter. But for myself I don't care what party delivers our questions at this point, I'm getting to fn old for ring around the rosey. In my opinion we really have nothing to loose, hell the Minister, and other retd brass sure as heck are not responding to many of us of late, so I don't care who strikes the match, to light a fire under them to get a concrete answer. Its time for all in charge to man up, its simple, hell many here have figured it out. So there is clarity IS it life LONG PENSION, TAX FREE SAME AS PA , YES or NO PERIOD. As for now the promise to life long pension is open to ones interpretation, and my thought leads me to the lump sum increase . Which if that's all, then in my mind, does not equate to life long pension tax free as per the old pa, but rather gives one the elusion of that for effect. And I strongly believe since this was the biggest issue for vets, any Party would have come right out and said so, but that did not happen, so skepticism now comes into play. JMO and hope I'm wrong. Take care all

I'm with Binrat on this, it's nice and cozy now that the conservatives care so much about veterans but in reality it's all BS! That's like asking the devil for help! It's all a game and I don't trust any of them. They all lie and play the veterans knight in shining armour while in opposition! Remember Otoole just said on his Facebook page that the increase in the disability award was a poor idea! This is just my opinion so I hope I don't piss off any of the csat crew and Trooper. It's just that I put all my heart into Kent believing all the lies about the life long pension and once in power the bs excuses started again!

Here's the thing I received a message yesterday requesting a contact phone number from myself from Clarke Alupa's office for a schedule phone interview which was done today.
I had plenty of time to research this office which I did , so I had questions of my own to ask which I did , at no time did I get the impression that this was all about making the Liberals look bad , on the contrary , the questions asked to me was directed at the best interest for Veterans that has come from this budget.
One of the topics we discussed was transition from military to civilian life , I got the impression that this office was getting the Idea that this was top priority according to other input sources brought forward to them , and sure enough when I asked about this they confirm that's what they are being told.
I said that there's more important topics that is of priority , they listen , and they had a very good sense of humor.
So my impression was that they are good at listening , and they were not talking about any political party but all towards the interest of the well being of Veterans.
I would not have posted this if I thought it was all about getting some sort of vendetta against the Liberals / Conservatives.
The fact that they respect what we do here on CSAT is inline with the intentions they have with this upcoming meeting with our MVA.
This is the official opposition party , that is their job to challenge the sitting government , in this particular case or in our case it is the veterans critic who stands to help our Veterans.
What the past conservative government did with regards to our file has absolutely nothing to do with it , we need all the help we can get , to not embrace this because of what the past sitting government did or didn't do , would do absolutely no good for Veterans.
Further to this CSAT is being recognized by outside power , is it a good Idea to turn our backs from this , absolutely not.
CSAT stands for helping Veterans , all Veterans , we don't want to stray away from that in any way , inside or outside of the Forum.
The members of this Forum are showing that it is possible to work proactively as a team in providing outstanding help to all Veterans , both on and off the forum.
I am getting some very good comments coming to me from the outside praising all the members of the forum , here's one; " I am always impressed by the compassion and support so many CSAT participants show in their dedication to help others."
From my chair this is what I'm hearing from the outside , and it makes me feel good about the dedication you all have towards helping your fellow Veterans.

That is why when I'm giving the opportunity to have you members give your inputs to our MVA via the Veterans critic , I fully embrace it because your inputs do count , it has nothing to do with a past government , it has everything to do with giving you all the opportunity to have your voices heard.

Here are my thoughts:
-wellness centres that were promised to be reopened. What is the status of same.
-programs and assistance to widows and family members of dceased veterans.
- Bill C -7 that is under debate allowing unionization of the RCMP. And a proposal to remove RCMP members from the Veteran Affairs program and placing officer under Provnicial Workplace Compensation programs.
-doing something to help our homeless veterans.

Newf

we will know soon enough . if he doesn't at least bring up the lifelong pension well I guess all bets will be off for this guy .

seriously this buyout was the largest reduction in vets benefits BY FAR even with the new amounts . it was disgusting , immoral disrespectful and totally reprehensible . if he will not even TALK about the issue their will be absolutely no need to correspond with him any further .

if he does bring it up he may become an interesting person to listen to .

if he starts talking about using the PA pension as a good avenue for the pain and suffering benefit im ALL IN.

I say we see where this thing goes for now .

propat

I concur with both Teentitan and Bigrex's comments/questions and to add my concern and query as to what is being done now for Homeless Veterans to this agenda.

I saw that too, but then I researched who was asking. Alupa Clarke, was only just elected. So he was never subjugated to parliamentary life under Harper, who dictated everything that his ministers said and did in public, or at least tried to. And right now, I doubt Ambrose is throwing her weight around in the party, since as the interim leader, she isn't going to take the chance of getting on the bad side of someone who just might be her boss soon. So that means that the Torie MP's, especially the new ones, have a little bit more of their own minds on subjects. So if Clarke wants to be the champion for Veterans, now that Peter Stoffer is gone, then I so good luck to him. But even though I won't ostracize him for being a Conservative, that doesn't necessarily mean that I will blindly give him my trust either.

Sorry I can't give ya my 3 listing..

Since the Conservatives couldn't / wouldn't do anything on thier watch for the 10 years, I am not gonna give them my

problem with it, so they can throw it at the Liberals, has / was this budget right for us, No, But I am not gonna let the Conservatives

take advantage on it, making them look like they care more for us, when we know they didn't

So if you do you Please also note to them that NOT ALL csat member's Agree with this stunt they are trying to pull.

I herby VOID my Ticket on that.

EXACTLY the same as bigrex in that EXACT order of priority .

propat

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 develope 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.

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

1. lack of comment on the wellness centers
2. no mention of enhanced education benefits (4 year university/college programs)
3. no mention of direction of how the lifelong pension is reinstated

Just got off the phone with the Office of the Critic for Veterans Affairs Canada
House of Commons.

The office in question is CLARKE Alupa who is the Conservative opposition critic for Veterans Affairs.

They are having a meeting next Tuesday with our Minister Kent Hehr.

They have asked me to assemble members of CSAT in asking the members the following question ;

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 ?

I told them that I would post this to our Forum and send them the three main issues CSAT has with the Budget.
They asked me if it was OK to disclose to our Minister that the info we send them , comes from CSAT , I responded yes !

As far as the timeline goes for sending in our three main comments , we agreed on Monday April ,11 , 2016 or sooner if completed before.

So we now all have the opportunity to have our voices heard by our Minister , this is a perfect time to make your comments heard , we also now have and official opposition contact directly to CSAT.
Let's try and put our thoughts/opinions together in a clear and understanding way so we can accomplish having our voices heard now , and in the future.
It is you the members with all of your inputs on the Budget just passed , that has shine the light of interest from the outside resulting in them coming forward looking for your inputs , good job by all !

So let's get this done !