O'Toole unveils vets platform, breaks from Harper policy on pension lawsuit

IMO, our tune would be different, simply put "we believed our GoC was going to reinstate our Pensions Act".
If I was a Canadian peon, would I go out risking life and limb knowing they can promise you something and anything?

Canada is the beacon of peace, not lies and politics

Enough is enough eh!
Ladies and gentleman, this is your military speaking.
You know the ones who actually served and are still willing to better their country, and stand up to dictatorships.

The GoC lied, why?
It's now clear they want us in court!
Only thing is that we can't win in court. It's controlled by government.
Waste of time and money?
NO, keep pounding away, the GoC took away our pensions and replaced it with a carrot, which is dangled on a string.
Read the policy!
At whatever time the minister  chooses,
If you will not believe an Able Seaman, how about from a leader (established).
Pat S.
18 hrs
..
Government is government. Some people danced a dance with the devil to bring in this Liberal government and have the audacity now to lament the good old days with Erin O'Toole. As long as We The People continue to flop from one corporate political party to the other, and there is a reason why there are only two real choices, We The People are part of the problem. That is exactly what the Mandarins want us to do because during my adult life every time we voted strategically to get rid of a self serving dictator they KNEW it was only a matter of time before they returned to the throne and each successor raised the bar of autocracy and corruption at least one peg higher. Until we change what we are doing, the only victors will be the corporate party elite. P@

Cuerv - you got it. We heard Trudeau, stand before a mic and make promises, and here we are heading too 1 1/2 yrs, and we are not much further ahead. The Devils will say anything they want you to hear, to get in. As a Vet, The Tool had loads of time to make changes, but did squat..Johnny Out,,VVV

Now he is brave! He did nothing when he could have done something.
Now what he is saying : elect me, give me power and I will do what is right.
BS.
Not buying it.

O'Toole unveils vets platform, breaks from Harper policy on pension lawsuit

Former veterans minister would abandon Equitas lump sum lawsuit

Janice Dickson Tuesday, December 20th, 2016

Conservative leadership candidate Erin O’Toole announced his veterans policy Tuesday — and among his promises is a pledge to “immediately drop” the legal effort commenced by the Harper government and revived by the Trudeau government to block a class-action lawsuit by veterans seeking a return to lifetime disability pensions.

A former veterans minister in the Stephen Harper government, O’Toole negotiated a ceasefire with veterans suing the then-Conservative government over Ottawa’s decision to replace lifetime pensions with lump-sum payments. That truce expired in May 2016 and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it clear he would continue the challenge to the lawsuit despite promising to restore lifelong pensions as an option for injured veterans.

The case, known as the Equitas lawsuit, was filed in the B.C. Supreme Court in October 2012 by six veterans who argued modern soldiers were not getting the same level of support as those who fought in past wars.

Introduced in 2006, the New Veterans Charter got rid of the lifetime disability pension for veterans of the Afghanistan war and replaced it with a one-time lump-sum payment that veterans’ groups have argued gives them less money over their lifetimes than they would have received under the pension system.

In May 2013, the Conservative government filed an application to have the lawsuit thrown out but in a judge in September 2013 allowed it to continue.

The government filed an appeal of that decision in October 2013.

In the hearing of that appeal in December 2014, the government argued it did not have a “social contract” to take care of injured veterans. Backlash over the case contributed to a tense relationship between veterans and the Harper government and led indirectly to Julian Fantino being replaced by O’Toole in the VA ministry in January 2015.

O’Toole and the veterans agreed to try to negotiate an out-of-court settlement and put the appeal on hold until May 2016, after the election.

In August 2015, Trudeau promised to restore lifelong pensions as an option for injured veterans but announced it would continue the former government’s lawsuit after the legal truce ended in May 2016.

“I am personally appalled by how the Trudeau Government misled Canadian veterans during the 2015 campaign, only to take them back to court after the election,” O’Toole’s said in his platform document.

Among the other promises outlined in his platform are pledges to streamline benefit adjudication and to set performance targets aimed at making the Department of Veterans Affairs more “veteran-centric.”

O’Toole also said he will work to reduce barriers to employment, ensure both financial security and transition support for injured veterans and their families and allow veterans to direct their own care plans.

The platform also states O’Toole will extend the Family Caregiver Relief Benefit to all families of veterans receiving the Permanent Impairment Allowance, and revise the concept of “universality of service” to be job-specific.

“One of the proudest days of my life was the day I joined the Canadian Armed Forces. That day I joined the community of tens of thousands of our fellow Canadians who volunteer to take on the most serious responsibility that anyone can – the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” O’Toole wrote in his introductory remarks to his veterans policy.

http://ipolitics.ca/2016/12/20/otoole-unveils-vets-platform-breaks-from-harper-policy-on-pension-lawsuit/