2017-2018 Fed Govt Budget

Gents, it is official: we have been scr.... beyond recognition .... again.
Please, re-elect us, and we will look after you during next term. Promise.

P.S. Turism will bring some $$ for couple of years and then ... it will be like Paris, London, Bruxels, etc. No go zone.
On that happy note: Cheers

I believe the Green party was the only party that stated they would return the old tax free pension act.

CJ, I agree the tax free pension act has to be brought back, this in order to bring back fairness and also to give that much needed security for all medically released Veterans.
Looking at this from a standpoint of past history, and what has transpired thus far on our file by the Liberals, unfortunately, in my opinion we are going to have to accept the fact that this present government will not be bringing back or restoring the tax free pension from the old act. It's highly unlikely future governments will be restoring the old pension act. It's one thing to want or wish for the old act to be restored, it's a whole different story to actually convince the powers to be, to restore it. We are lacking in unity to push for this, we have in my opinion missed our opportunity to even have a small chance in forcing this government to take a second look at bringing the old act back, or the tax free pension portion of the old act. The time to fight and bring this important issue to light would have been the same Month our Minister, became our Minister. And the focus should have been strictly on this issue, no other issue until answers were given. This is the top promise, the most important promise, this is why this promise should have been priority from day one, and full ahead concentrating only on this issue. Mike Blais pushed for it to a point at the beginning, but he miss read, or miss understood this particular promise thinking that the promise was to bring back the old act, and he even was convinced that our Minister fully intended on bringing the old pension back. Once he became alerted to the fact that this was not the case, not even close, that's when he realized that nothing has changed with this government, and the pension from the old act is history, at least from this government.

What are we to do? Who do we hold to account? Do we hold the government to account? Do we inform and educate the public? Do we attend stakeholder summits and raise these concerns? I'm sorry but in my opinion the government has us exactly where they want us on this particular issue, and in my opinion there's not a whole hell of a lot we can do about at this stage of the game. We are not united on this issue, we have a Minister who does not want to educate himself on our file, a Minister who has passed everything down to the bureaucrats to completely run our file, a Minister who spends time in his riding giving out coffee and speaking about pipelines. We have senior Veteran advocates who tried bringing this issue to light but were shot down by other advocates, and even called shit disturbers at the summits, and online afterwards. There's no unity, the charter is geared towards dividing Veterans and Veterans groups. The charter gives false perception in many ways, one clear way is the unfairness that is evident by comparing the old to the new, the old being far superior.

So in my opinion until we start to see a huge build up in unity among Veterans and Veterans groups, to fight together on this particular issue, the old act has no chance in being restored, or brought back.

This lifelong pension the liberals are going to implement won't come close to the old pension, I wouldn't be a bit surprised the bureaucrats already had the details of this pension in place the day the Liberals got elected, they are just waiting for the proper time to announce it, which by the looks of things will be by years end. The scary part of it all is that the Lifelong pension they present could be a complete disappointment to Veterans, which I could see happening, and the government would have still fulfilled their promise. JMO

I agree with both of you but I think it's gone beyond the point where the government, any government, will bring back tax free monthly payments. Most provincial workers compensation plans have moved away from that model and it won't be long before nothing is tax free. I think there is a point where you can push and push the government to improve benefits more and more and all of a sudden they and Mr. Civilian are going to say full stop, enough! Most companies don't even give pensions any more and workers compensation doesn't either, its all self directed Rrsp or annunity. I know everyone will say Hey we are veterans and deserve this and that but that only flies so far with the civilian and veterans make up less that 0.01 percent of the population. So my point is , Yes try and get as much as possible, the best and fairest deal, but there is a ceiling where the civilian government, ndp , liberal and Con, that will never allow, and that's the PA. It's dead and sometimes we have to accept fact and move on.

As Navrat said the Libs are approachable and are co-operating so why not push to have the two acts merged together?

Clean up the wording, seriously evaluate the rules for all the financial benefits and either give a portion of the benefits tax free OR a yearly tax credit for the vets who's injuries are minor but are still allowed to find work.

This quilt of benefits under two acts is getting to damn complicated for not just vets but the VAC workers as well.

Not good enough! It may not be called the PA, but it had better be the same with corrections. The govt may call it what ever they want, but the NVC needs a total revamping, leaving out all wording belaying 'at the whim' of the minister. It had better include being retroactive to all those that fell under the NVC; all of them. Anything else is a failure.

Points well taken. But......I believe at this point the pa is dead. No party wants or will bring it back. That's just the truth because it would have returned by now. At least with the liberals positive change is coming, it may not be the pa , but at least it's some sort of life long payment that will provide some security for veterans. Will it be perfect, probably not, but it's still a step forward and I bet ya it's probably going to be the last financial benefit the veterans will see from any government. Just my thoughts

2017-2018 Fed Govt Budget

Just a side note in reference to the govt's latest budget and an IOU note to veterans to return to life long compensation pensions.

Of worry, is the govt's use of the word 'option' relating to lump sum payment or a monthly annuity for life. 'Option' implies that the govt is setting the stage for a fixed compensation package no matter how the cash is to be distributed. This does not bode well for veterans.

Further, 'option' may be the govt's intent to ensure that those wounded/injured vets that were forced to take a lump sum payment post March, 2006, have no recourse to be reimbursed for greater compensation, or to select a monthly compensation annuity, or to be included in retroactive payments.

Also remember, the minimum requirement is a return to the old Pension Act, with appropriate enhancements. Not restricted to just disabled, medically released service members, but also to every single releasing member that has been injured, but not disabled.

At this time, what and how the govt's intentions will transpire are all guesses. However, these guesses need to be kept in our collective consciousness so our community is not caught again with our guard down; just in case!

CJ Wallace
Publisher VVi
publisher@veteranvoice.info