Put it in writing, Afghan vets tell Liberals as settlement looms in lawsuit

I hear what your saying Rex , nowhere did I read in the Mandate letter that they were returning the pension act.

As far as the pain an suffering goes as being par with the pension act , I'm skeptical , I have yet to hear from anyone be it stakeholders , Equitas or the Ministers past messages about any reinstatement being tax free.

If they were even contemplating bringing back the tax free pain an suffering , they would have said something by now , it is not difficult to reinstate this , even with the already paid out Lump Sums.

I hope I'm wrong , but I'm with propat , I don't trust anyone until I see it with my own two eyes.

Remember a lifelong pension could be anything , an the bureaucrats have a way of making things look much better then they really are.

So we will wait an see.

I think what is muddying up the conversation, is people just saying to bring back the Pension Act. We do not want a return to the Pension, Act, as a whole. We only want the Pain and Suffering compensation that was available under the Pension Act, to replace the current lump sum compensation that the NVC provides.

Extracted From Mr. Michael Blais Facebook page,
Michael Blais

8 hrs ·

.Sweeet. lets get that letter written up toute suite, specially the promise for the Pension Act return. T promised me two years ago now that this would be done, that the sacred obligation would be restored within the first mandate of a liberal government. Promises to reflect this standard were made to all of us during the last election and followed up on the mandate letter to which the PM provided to the new minister.

We are getting close now, stay focused, the concept of mission, team, self has never been more important as we advance to contact towards the final objective.

Enough of the bullshyte about the return and the Pension Act and the constant negativism, the government promised they would do so, are taking step to complete this and I am hopeful the letter they draft to the Equitas will finally unite us under the principles the CVA was founded on five and a half years ago.

Stay strong. Stay focused.

yup be great stuff if ya can get it I guess . ya know I don't trust the GOC at all . so what id like to see in righting is the legislation with the regulations and ill only START believing it will happen AFTER its passed and fully believe it AFTER its implemented and I get to talk with the people that this effects .

propat

Hopefully the court response will lay out exactly how and when they plan on bringing in the pension, as I highly doubt these guys will accept a lifelong pension that falls short of what is offered under the Pension Act, or wait another couple of years for it to be implemented.

Either VAC writes it for the BC judge or he starts the lawsuit again. That's it!

Sorochan has put more then pressure on VAC he is telling Trudeau enough with the selfies and comments. He wants substance with the document and if Trudeau fails to put that infront of a judge it makes Hehr's precious Mandate Letter look like toilet paper.

I sure wouldn't want to play poker with Mr. Sorochan that's for damn sure!

I agree Tenn , court document but this document better have the details an timeline that suits the team , if not , it's worth nothing.

Actually trooper a signed, stamped court document is what Equitas needs from the GoC.

A letter can be ignored. A court document cannot be ignored. Sorochan nailed with the Rotary Club meeting comment. Hehr is now on the clock to actually do his job and put a firm outline and timeline of the lifelong pension.

They already have the letter of assurance , it's in the mandate letter given to our Minister by our PM.

What they need is a letter stating what the return of the lifelong pensions consist of , and or details of what they are going to present , and the deadline in which it will be implemented.

Without this the Liberals can bring any type of lifelong pension forward , and if it's not excepted at the time the Liberals can say we kept our end of the bargain.

Surely the Lawyers know this I would think.

I love Liberal Kent! Way to go, equal benefits for all!

Article from the Winnipeg free press.................

OTTAWA - The Trudeau government is drafting a letter of assurance it hopes will end a class-action lawsuit by Afghan veterans angry about a 10-year-old overhaul of their benefits and entitlements.

The legal challenge, which became a lightning rod under the Conservative government, was put in abeyance over a year ago in the B.C. Supreme Court, where it was filed on behalf of six complainants.

The legal time-out was intended, at the time, to give the Harper government an opportunity to introduce a series of improvements to the so-called New Veterans Charter, which — among other things — replaced lifetime pensions for serious injuries with lump-sum awards and a patchwork of stipends.

Don Sorochan, the lawyer for the soldiers, says those changes — along with new measures introduced in the Liberal budget and the promise of a return to the lifetime pension — may be enough for them to drop the case.

He says a meeting earlier this month involving the minister, senior Veterans Affairs officials and lawyers for the Department of Justice, brought them close to a settlement, but the ex-soldiers want to see the federal government acknowledge its commitments in writing.

"We told the minister that we didn't need another Rotary Club meeting where he goes around and shakes hands and says how nice everybody is," Sorochan told The Canadian Press. "We wanted to get a firm commitment from them about what their intentions are to implement the (minister's) mandate letter."

After being sworn in last November, Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr was ordered, in writing, by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to implement the Liberals' campaign promises and Sorochan says the measures outlined in the mandate letter satisfy the grievances of his clients.

The Liberal budget poured $5.6 billion into veterans programs over six years, but it did not restore lifetime pensions.

Since there are thousands of veterans who come under the umbrella of the new system, Sorochan says it's only natural that the government is trying to figure out how to straighten out the system in a way that's fair to everybody.

"My guys are quite happy with the way it is going," Sorochan said, referring to both the regulatory changes and the amount of consultation federal officials have done with the ex-soldiers.

Indeed, Trudeau's commitment to wounded soldiers was on full display Monday in Toronto as he joined Prince Harry for events marking the countdown to the 2017 Invictus Games.

He underlined the government's recent commitments

"Our soldiers deserve the greatest attention and much compassion from their nation," Trudeau said. "They embody the best of the Canadian identity and have won our respect and our gratitude forever."

Aside from embarrassing Conservatives among their core political constituency, the way federal lawyers defended the lawsuit three years ago caused enormous political damage.

Their statement of defence made clear that the federal government believed it had no special obligation to soldiers and that promises of care for the wounded, dating back to the First World War, were political statements not binding on present or future governments.

Sorochan says the language has since been modified, but he believes the debate strikes at the heart of the Constitution in the sense that it would be impossible for a nation to raise a citizen's army during war — or even a peacetime volunteer force — without some kind of assurance that the wounded and the families of the fallen would receive special attention.

By: Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press
Posted: 05/2/2016 12:27 PM

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/put-it-in-writing-afghan-vets-tell-liberals-as-settlement-looms-in-lawsuit-377832201.html






Cheers