Liberals commit major funding for veterans

August 26, 2015 · 0 Comments

After a decade of Stephen Harper’s neglect, Liberals promise they will make major new investments to give veterans the future they are owed if they win the Oct. 19 federal election.
Dufferin-Caledon Liberal candidate Ed Crewson made the statement this week.
“For 10 years, Stephen Harper draped himself in the Canadian flag, then betrayed the men and women who fought for it,” Crewson said. “Our veterans represent the very best of what it means to be Canadian. Our brave women and men in uniform put their lives on the line for our country at a high personal cost.”
“Throughout my conversations with veterans living in our community, it’s clear that the overwhelming majority of our service men and women feel disrespected and abandoned by this government when they return home,” he added. “We have a social covenant with Canadian veterans and their families — an obligation that absolutely must be met with the utmost respect and gratitude.”
Crewson said a Liberal government will re-establish lifelong pensions for injured veterans, and increase the value of the disability award; invest $25 million to expand access to the Permanent Impairment Allowance; invest $40 million to increase the Earnings Loss Benefit to 90 per cent of pre-release salary; invest $80 million per year to create a new Veterans Education Benefit that provides full support for the cost of up to four years of college, university or technical education; invest $100 million per year to expand support for families of veterans; increase the veteran survivor’s pension amount from 50 per cent to 70 per cent; double funding to the Last Post Fund to ensure that veterans receive a dignified burial; re-open the nine Veterans Affairs service offices closed by the Harper Conservatives; fully implement all of the Auditor General’s recommendations on enhancing mental health service delivery to veterans; hire 400 new service delivery staff, including new case managers at Veterans Affairs; and budget $20 million to create two new centres of excellence in veterans’ care.
“Canadians rightly expect that our sacred obligation to our veterans will be honoured,” Crewson observed. “Veterans have spent far too long fighting the Harper Conservatives for the support and compensation that they have earned. A Liberal government led by Justin Trudeau will ensure that veterans in our community, and right across the country, can confidently look forward to the future they are owed by a grateful nation.”