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Trudeau's Liberals Anything But Sunny Ways For Veterans

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bigrex
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Teentitan
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Post by Guest Fri 03 Jun 2016, 12:16

Here's what Mike had to say about the article ;

Michael Blais

I think the article is clearly misleading. First of all, the person who made the theatrical outburst with less than two hours into the summit returned shortly thereafter and participated through the meeting. Secondly, the person who called out the government did so in a manner which questioned the credibility of every stakeholder present and the motives behind the government for inviting them. This did not go over well and did nothing to foster the unity that is required if we are to be successful in holding this government to account!!!. I spoke, I think that Bruce was referring to me, about the need to rally under the mandate that has been provided by the Liberal party through the election and within the mandate letter which the prime minister of Canada provided to the Minister of Veterans Affairs. it is vital that, whoever the stakeholder chosen is, that we advance on a united front. At the CVA level, we have worked very hard in the past to encourage the Liberal party to adopt the CVA harmonization proposals, inclusive of a return to the pension act for those who wish but a legitimate lump-sum award for the older generation who would choose to accept this venue. This is fair and respects the wishes of all veterans, this is what we are speaking to at the policy advisory group level. I can tell you that there has been no instruction by the government to cease and desist conversation or dialogue about the restoration of the pension act and I am confident that the advisory group will have a solid foundation proposals in time for the next budget.

The Liberal party of Canada promised to resolve 15 issues during the election and within the mandate letter. Including restoring the lifetime pension. That would be the issue that is before the courts at this time. This is a legal issue, I can only speak to what is occurring at the stakeholders level and at this time, the policy advisory group is moving forward on resolving the issue of the lifetime pension and providing a mechanism to restore, as noted in the mandate letter. I would also note that six of the promises have been addressed during the first budget. Significant amount of funding will be provided to veterans, more than 10 years of conservative rule has provided. By the end of the year, close to 400 front-line workers will have been hired and trained, fulfilling a pledge to resolve one of the major discrepancies, that being the anger veterans experience through delays denials and lack of attention due to case manager overload. The increase to the earnings loss benefit, particularly for those who are entitled to the antipoverty threshold, will see an increase of almost $9000 per year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/bruce-moncur/veterans-liberal-government_b_10224950.html

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Post by Teentitan Fri 03 Jun 2016, 12:27

Wow is Blais an advocate, a card carrying Liberal or a guy campaigning for the Order of Canada?

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Post by Guest Fri 03 Jun 2016, 13:14

I'm blowing chunks here, Oh me nerves

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Post by Teentitan Fri 03 Jun 2016, 13:25

Some info on Mr. Blais that the veteran community needs to know going forward.

As passionate as Mike is in advocating some of his choices in doing so is very questionable and bizzare.

I have seen Mike at Stakeholder meetings and for the first 3 years he would let his 'companion of the day' do the speaking. Mike always had a different partner because each one would get severly frustrated and quit the CVA because of Mike's conduct.

I have seen Mike give a Diamond Jubilee medal to a VAC employee. The employee was basically assigned to Mike to educate him on the NVC and the VAC system. This IMO was his first mistake. Don't ask the institution you are advocating against to educate you. Do it yourself.

Mike was given a permanent Hall Pass at Parliament Hill from the Liberals. This is his second mistake IMO. This is why Mike was grilled at a Standing Committee meeting about membership, financial backing etc. The committee wanted to know if they were dealing with an advocate or a card carrying Liberal. He never convinced or proved anyone what he was...advocate or Liberal.

This is why Mike is now a lobbyist.

Mike's third mistake was accepting an invitation from Hehr to Trudeau's throne speech. The optics of the whole situation did not look good as his status of advocate or Liberal was pondered by many people.

Mike's fourth mistake was proving his third mistake that he is a Liberal when he stood up and defended Hehr at the 9 May stakeholder meeting. An advocate does not defend the Minister he asks the upset/frustrated veteran if he needs help or he leaves the situation alone. Dissent in a stakeholder meeting is needed especially in a meeting with 90 veteran organizations in attendance. If no one had a problem and did not voice them then is it truly a meaningful stakeholder meeting? Hence the reason for Bruce Moncur's article.

Right now Mike is a sitting member on the Advisory Committee's created by Hehr. So is Mike a veteran's advocate we can trust?

I stepped away from advocating because too many members on CSAT had doubt of me being an advocate or a Conservative. I am asking those who read this to keep this in mind.
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Post by Guest Fri 03 Jun 2016, 13:30

Now we know what we already know Ron, Blais is just Blah Blah Blah in the Liberal scheme of things I dropped him and his circle jerk nimrods from face book as I couldn't stomach the banter from Mike.

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Post by prawnstar Fri 03 Jun 2016, 13:37

Just another fiberal swivel servant blowing smoke up our asses. This is the guy who is supposed to be helping us, fighting for our rights to entitled benefits. Why did he not get replaced when justin and his sunny bunch of you know whats come into power. Let the fox come into the hen house and see how they get along. Blowing chunks here too Robbie.

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Post by Guest Fri 03 Jun 2016, 13:47

I think Mike is under the understanding that the PA pension is coming back , he has that set in his mind an it seems that nothing is going to influence him to think otherwise.

He even admits that the Equitas suit is moving forward an goes on to say that it's a legal thing ?

The thing is that this legal thing goes dead set against his wish of ever seeing a lifelong pension return , let alone the PA pension.

Yes unity among Veterans is Ideal , but what's the sense in pushing for unity when some are falling into the Liberal trap , Mike talks about a $9000 INCREASE for the ELB top up ?
WTF , the spokesperson for VAC has already publicly stated twice that those at the minimum are only going to see 5% increase.
So how in the name of god do you expect Veterans to unite when were being fed this type of BS ?

The MVA continues again to say that all Veterans will see an increase of 15% from the ELB top up ?

If you watch the video the VAC SPOKESPERSON acknowledges some will only see a 5% increase , when pressed on the issue the answer is always the same , no Veteran will lose money from the 15% top up.
At first the answer was they did not want to see Veterans making more than active serving members , now they changed that to no Veteran will lose money but at the same time acknowledging it is not an across board equal 15% increase to all Veterans who are receiving ELB.

Same thing goes for the award increase an retro , $11000 of retro for a past assessment of 25%.

Those who understand the process of how governments implement benefits/programs for Veterans are the ones who not need sit back an be lead into unfairness by simply agreeing on what the government says , they are the ones who call foul an stand up to address the government ensuring that all Veterans are being looked after in a fair manner an the promises are to be kept as per promise , not as per the circus of unfairness.
It is not meant to break up unity , it is meant to stand up an address what they believe to be a problem , or problems.
As a matter of fact , instead of suggesting they speak as per the breaking up of unity , they should stand alongside them to allow unity to form , given all groups their time to speak rather they agree , or disagree.
To me the person who stands up against those who are in power to make believe things are progressing fine , are the ones we all should be listening to.

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Post by bigrex Fri 03 Jun 2016, 13:51

Well, Mike is certainly very vocal, but sometimes when one person gets all the airtime, people tend to tune him out. Kind of like a catchy new song, that you really love, but after hearing it on the radio every five minutes, all you want to do is change the station. What really surprised me was how inaccurate He was at the end of the post. Veterans getting the minimum ELB will not get a $9000/year increase, as he claimed. That would have been if the Cpl rank was kept, since 90% of the current rate would be just shy of $51000. Instead they will only see around a $3000 increase.
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Post by bigrex Fri 03 Jun 2016, 14:15

Lets look at a couple examples of how unfair this will be.

Veteran #1 75% of pre-release salary is $43000, just over the minimum. 90% brings them up to $51500.

Veteran #2 brought up to the minimum of $42000, with the new rate, the minimum will be $45000.



But lets look at some Veterans who's current 75% mark is close to, but still below the minimum.

75% = $40000, the increase to 90% would be $48000

75% = $38000, and increase to 90% would be $45600


So they should at least be saying that anyone currently getting the minimum ELB, who's 90% pre-release pay is more than new $45000 minimum, will get be topped up to that amount. And hopefully that distinction will help greatly reduce or eliminate everyone from getting screwed over. Another thing that would help , is since they have removed the 2% cap on indexing, maybe they can make that change retro-active to at least 2006, and the introduction of the ELB.



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Post by 6608 Fri 03 Jun 2016, 14:39

bigrex, Nobody on ELB/SISIP today is below the minimum base rate set in 2011.



Cheers
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Post by bigrex Fri 03 Jun 2016, 15:29

6608, I realize that. What I'm saying that if someone who has a 75% mark at say $40000, and is currently topped up to the minimum $42000. But just because they fall below the minimum at 75%, doesn't mean that they will automatically fall below the minimum at 90%, because of the rank change. I just don't want to see VAC tell people that just because they are being topped up to the current minimum, they are only entitled to the new minimum, if the calculations show otherwise.
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Post by 6608 Fri 03 Jun 2016, 17:05

bigrex, I think i get what your saying, the thing to remember is the policy is 75/90% of release pay OR the base rate minimum whichever is greater.


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Post by pinger Fri 03 Jun 2016, 22:15

Well, the "coffee" sure does taste fresh around here.

This is a good thing...
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Trudeau's Liberals Anything But Sunny Ways For Veterans - Page 2 Empty I Want To Hear From All Veterans, Even If They're Mad At Me

Post by Guest Sat 04 Jun 2016, 05:49

I want to thank Bruce Moncur for his piece, "Trudeau's Liberals Anything But Sunny Ways For Veterans," and for attending Veterans Affairs Canada's (VAC) stakeholder summit on May 9 to 10.

To date, it was the department's largest and best-attended, and he made some invaluable contributions both as a member of the greater assembly and individually when we had an opportunity to speak one-on-one during a lunch break.

Bruce points out in his piece that Budget 2016 did not include all of the items in the mandate letter I received from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when I took office as minister of veterans affairs in November 2015.

He's right.

These frustrations are understandable after a decade of inaction on a file and a New Veterans Charter that was supposed to be a living document, but was never allowed to grow.
While we do mention $5.6 billion in financial security -- including: increasing the disability award from $310,000 to $360,000 in line with recommendations from the Veterans Ombudsman; increasing the Earnings Loss Benefit from 75 per cent to 90 per cent; increasing access to the upper levels of the Permanent Impairment Allowance and renaming it the Career Impact Allowance so that its name is in better keeping with the intentions of the policy; reopening the 9 VAC offices closed under the last government; hiring enough staff to bring us to a 25-to-one case manager-veteran ratio; and increasing access to Funeral and Burial Services by increasing the estate exemption from $12,000 to $35,000 -- we do not mention future commitments like the Veterans Education Benefits or ending the marriage-after-60 clawback.

What the budget does say about many of those remaining commitments, including the pension is:

"In consultation with the veterans' community, the government also understands there is a significant desire to better design veterans' financial support programs going forward -- and that the government should take the appropriate time to work with veterans to ensure programs meet the needs of those injured in the line of duty.
Over the next year, the government will work with the veterans' community to examine the best way to streamline and simplify the system of financial support programs currently offered by Veterans Affairs Canada and National Defence for veterans and their families. The overall objective of this work will be to ensure that the government delivers programs and services in a way that is veterans-centric and facilitates a seamless and successful transition from military to civilian life."

This came out of the very first stakeholder's summit that he and I attended just weeks out from my swearing-in. Veterans and veterans groups said it well and said clearly that we need to get this pension option right, and not to rush it.

Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent stated clearly: "I believe that the government is moving in the right direction to shape tomorrow for Canada's veterans and their families. While Budget 2016 is a promising start, we need a clear action plan and an evidence-based evaluation approach to determine what the impact of these changes will be on veterans and their families."

I'll admit there were some tense exchanges as a couple of veterans expressed their frustration with the current system of veterans' benefits and the department itself. These frustrations are understandable after a decade of inaction on a file and a New Veterans Charter that was supposed to be a living document, but was never allowed to grow.

I share many of their frustrations, but felt it was important that all participants had an opportunity to voice their opinions: good or bad.

As a government we need to hear them all.

The second Veterans Affairs stakeholder summit drew close to 100 veteran advocates to discuss priorities and issues that affect Canada's veterans.

On the second day of the summit, we held an open town hall streamed on Facebook and invited questions from the stakeholders present and those across the country, because this should be an open process by default.

I do take issue with Bruce's allegations of bullying. The summit was a safe place for stakeholders of all backgrounds to voice their concerns, and no one was at any point limited or prevented from speaking -- and that needs to be made clear.

I look forward to hosting the next stakeholder summit and hope that Bruce will continue to contribute and bring a valuable insight to the table. If we are to provide better financial security and the benefits veterans need, when and where they need them, we will need his experience and expertise along with that of countless other veterans across the country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kent-hehr/veterans-financial-security_b_10282940.html

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Post by Teentitan Sat 04 Jun 2016, 10:24

Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent stated clearly: "I believe that the government is moving in the right direction to shape tomorrow for Canada's veterans and their families. While Budget 2016 is a promising start, we need a clear action plan and an evidence-based evaluation approach to determine what the impact of these changes will be on veterans and their families."

Mr. Hehr this is not a compliment from the Ombudsman. He wants to see your action plan and evidence based evaluation.

You know those pesky things lawyers do in a court case to either prove guilt or innocence.

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