Veterans Affairs senior bureaucrats raked in bonuses while closing offices, feuding with ex-soldiers

Just throwing a novel thought out there.

How could a bureaucrat (plural) be replaced by a veteran with more noble endeavours?

The politicians are not in the equation. They are the puppets the public looks at on the nightly news.

This article is the chance to go after the bureaucrats. But how did they bureaucrats fight back about this article? They talked about how JT is not keeping his promises for PSAC that he promised on the campaign trail

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/10/16/you-said-youd-be-different-federal-union-targets-trudeau-in-campaign.html

Dollar to a donught this is a short lived story because JT does not want to agitate the largest voting block in Canada. Well what about the promises to vets? Oh we have to be patient.

How do you think PSAC will react if a news outlet digs deeper into this bonus story? They will freeze out that news outlet which said news outlet can't afford for such a small group in the overall big picture.

Believe it or not folks veterans issues aren't even in the top 10 issues in Canada. So our fight is going to be what it always has been....uphill....a very steep uphill battle.

I'm on board with you Teen, however, how does one fight the bureaucrats without knocking out their leaders, politicians?

trooper you understand what I have been saying for years....to fight bureaucrats you need to learn their language and use it against them!

As long as vets fight the politicians the bureaucrats are in heaven because they are not involved in the fight.

That's why I always ignored the Ministers and zeroed in on the DM's, ADM's, CSA's, CM's.

Politicians use us as, you have said, PR props. So as long as any vet engages with any politician from any political party it's a waste of time.

But target the bureaucrat, as this article has done, we can gain ground. Percy's only mistake? He thought the political angle would be the better approach where he should have stuck with the bureaucrats. But Percy is an Independent senator because JT fired his ass so he has an axe to grind.

So in the end these bureaucrats got their big bonus and guess what the incoming political party just did? They undid what their bonus was for by re-opening under used DO's.

Think the bureaucrats care? The answer isn't no. The answer is yes because they will get a bonus this for re-opening the DO's they got a bonus for closing!

Yeah let's keep taking the politicians to the shed.....it's really helping veteran issues!

Where VAC HQ is honestly doesn't matter. But veterans have been saying that the ones in charge, are too disconnected with their subordinates. I mean how are they supposed to ensure that veterans get the best treatment, when even the HQ staff are nothing but names on a spreadsheet. It's bad enough the the MVA has to split his time between being in Ottawa, PEI, and his own constituency. So what do you do? Move a handful of deputy ministers and other senior bureaucrats to PEI, or move hundreds of VAC employees to Ottawa, to an already overinflated bubble of power? If JT chose the second option, the Conservatives would accuse him of wasting taxpayers money.

We need more articles like this to be written, nothing else seems to be working.

These people are suppose to be writing legislation that should exceed Veterans expectation, then, and only then will I agree with bonuses being allotted to them.

As it stands now, they are writing up legislation to favor themselves, not Veterans, and they are all experts in writing legislation to secure their own futures, while the Veteran continues to deal with their disability, or disabilities on top of having to fight for secured disability benefits.

So in my opinion it does not matter where the senior bureaucrats are, they could be in Ellesmere Island and continue to write up legislation and collect their bonuses.

The NVC is a dream come true for the Veterans Affairs Bureaucrats.
This is why Canadian Veterans will never see the return of the TAX FREE LIFELONG PENSION from the old pension act.

So yes, keep writing the articles, their true colors should be revealed at every opportunity we get.

Actually when Trudeau Senior was PM he wanted to move departments all over Canada. Agriculture in the Prairies, Forestry in BC, Oceans and Fisheries in Maritime etc

Problem is he stopped the plan after he moved VAC. Don't know why maybe there was a backlash from PSAC who knows?

Just another dumb idea that only made vets lives worse.

The only reason why VAC head office is located in PEI is to create jobs on the island.

Another solution....move VAC back to Ottawa. The building they occupied before moving to PEI is empty.

So how about JT fixes PE's big mistake by moving the one and only department out of Ottawa?

Improve service to veterans by moving VAC leaders to Charlottetown, says Senator

October 16, 2016

I recently wrote about senior Veterans Affairs bureaucrats being paid, on average, almost $15,000 each in bonuses even as they cut public service jobs, closed offices and faced off with wounded soldiers fed up with poor service from the department.

The 63 executives received, on average, $14,778 in bonuses during the government’s 2014-2015 fiscal year, according to recently released figures provided to the Senate. The maximum bonus awarded was $34,682.

The cash was paid out as “at risk pay” which means the bureaucrats achieved results in their jobs. Such payments were up slightly from the 2013-2014 fiscal year when 58 executives received at-risk pay, the figures noted. The average award during that period was $14,322.

In addition, in 2014-2015, eight of the top bureaucrats also received their regular bonuses; that cash payout averaged $5,555 each. That type of bonus had also increased since 2013-2014 when only five executives received such payments. Then the average amount was $4,180.

The information provided to the Senate doesn’t include details on who received the cash but it has traditionally been the deputy minister, assistant deputy ministers and other executives.


The figures do show that from 2005 to 2015 the maximum amounts being paid for at risk bonuses almost doubled; jumping from $17,430 to $34,682.

Liberal senator Percy Downe, whose question to the government resulted in the information being released, said he is surprised and disappointed about the payments.

Downe said he believes the payouts send the wrong message. There has been a lack of leadership from the department’s senior bureaucrats, who live in Ottawa, while the department headquarters is in Charlottetown, PEI, he added. “There is a disconnect between the leadership the department requires and the leadership they’re getting,” said Downe, who has a home in Charlottetown. “And when you see these bonuses, you wonder what these payments are all about?”

His solution?

Tell the senior management they have to be in Charlottetown on a fulltime basis (not jetting in now and then from Ottawa at taxpayers’ expense).

“Leadership is lacking in the day-to-day conduct of the department,” Downe said. “The senior leaders are all in Ottawa, not at the headquarters in Charlottetown.”

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/improve-service-to-veterans-by-moving-vac-leaders-to-charlottetown-says-senator

Okay, at first I did not believe this. But it's true. Can you believe they actual gave bonus for performance at VAC, I guess there types of performance = screwing the Vet and performance is measured by delays. I will not waste any more of my breath on this topic.

David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016


Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent released a report this spring saying that families of ex-soldiers are kept in the dark about available programs and no one at Veterans Affairs is providing them with information. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA — Senior Veterans Affairs bureaucrats were paid, on average, almost $15,000 each in bonuses even as they cut public service jobs, closed offices and faced off with wounded soldiers fed up with poor service from the department.

The 63 executives received, on average, $14,778 in bonuses during the government’s 2014-2015 fiscal year, according to newly released figures provided to the Senate. The maximum bonus awarded was $34,682.

The cash was paid out as “at risk pay,” which means the bureaucrats achieved results in their jobs. Such payments were up slightly from the 2013-2014 fiscal year when 58 executives received at-risk pay, the figures noted. The average award during that period was $14,322.

In addition, in 2014-2015, eight of the top bureaucrats also received their regular bonuses; that cash payout averaged $5,555 each. That type of bonus had also increased since 2013-2014 when only five executives received such payments. Then the average amount was $4,180.

The information provided to the Senate doesn’t include details on who received the cash but it has traditionally been the deputy minister, assistant deputy ministers and other executives.

The figures do show that from 2005 to 2015 the maximum amounts being paid for at risk bonuses almost doubled, jumping to $34,682 from $17,430.

The number of non-executives who received performance pay also increased from 25 in 2005 to 53 in the 2014-2015 fiscal year. Their average payout was $5,323.

Liberal senator Percy Downe, whose question to the government resulted in the information being released, said he was surprised and disappointed about the payments.

The past decade has seen numerous complaints from veterans about poor treatment from the department. Those include breaches of their privacy by Veterans Affairs senior bureaucrats and denial of claims.

“It was a time when the department was having significant problems, closing offices, restricting benefits,” Downe said of the period covered by the payments. “The Privy Council Office decided that all these efforts were to be rewarded with bonuses, which would not only be shocking to veterans and their families but to most Canadians.”

Downe said the bonuses also count towards a bureaucrat’s pension, “so they are not only cash in hand, they are cash forever as a percentage of your pension.”

In March, Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent released a report saying that families of ex-soldiers are kept in the dark about available programs and no one at Veterans Affairs is providing them with information.

Parent pointed out there is a lack of “direct and proactive communication with families” by the department.

Previously Parent raised questions about how Veterans Affairs treated families of former soldiers affected by the spraying of Agent Orange. He described the treatment as “scandalous” after federal bureaucrats denied the financial claims of spouses.

Another of his reports pointed out that some of Canada’s most severely injured soldiers were not being told by Veterans Affairs about all of the benefits they were eligible to receive.

During the Conservative government, the senior bureaucrats at Veterans Affairs oversaw the shutdown of nine offices across the country that provided support to former soldiers. That policy sparked outrage among veterans.

The Liberal government is reopening the offices.

Downe said he believes the payouts send the wrong message. There has been a lack of leadership from the department’s senior bureaucrats, who live in Ottawa, while the department headquarters is in Charlottetown, P.E.I., he added.

“There is a disconnect between the leadership the department requires and the leadership they’re getting,” said Downe, who has a home in Charlottetown. “And when you see these bonuses, you wonder what these payments are all about.”

Information is not yet available for the latest round of bonuses.


http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/news/canada/canadian-politics/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/veterans-affairs-senior-bureaucrats-raked-in-bonuses-while-closing-offices-feuding-with-ex-soldiers

Sad!

Shame on them and our government for allowing this to happen. Next they will be claiming job related PTSD and seeking compensation which they will likely get it.

They should be shot with a ball of there own shyte

or 20 staffers to process claims!