Veterans Affairs Committee on April 20th, 2009

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Is it different for flight versus shipping versus operations?

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

Yes. Flight is one year to three, so every three years, I gain one year. For shipping, I think it's the same. For operations, probably it depends on what kind of operations, but it's also 100%, so after one year, you gain one year. In case of war, probably it's the same.

So it's different. If your service is not so stressed, probably you gain one year after five years. Sometimes you don't gain anything. It depends on the specialization.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

You've talked about the old age pension, and then there's a retirement pension. Can you explain the difference between the two?

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

You get the old age pension when you reach the maximum age of service, which is now 60 years. When you reach 60 years, you have to go into retirement. This is the old age pension. It's called the old age pension because you cannot stay in service.

If you are 53 years old and an officer, and you have 40 years of pensionable service, you can get the pension. At the end of the month, you have a pension. Otherwise, you have to wait until you're 60 years old.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I want to clarify something on the question of bonus time. Does that bonus kick in because of a voluntary payment by the service person?

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

Yes. If I don't pay, I don't have any—

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

You don't qualify for the bonus.

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

—economic benefit. You don't have anything.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you.

For the Bloc Québécois, Monsieur Lévesque.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Bonotto. You have answered one of the questions I was going to ask you about the maximum retirement age. Do you have the figures for the years of age-related service, say 80 years, that give the equivalent of a retirement age of 60?

Say that you are 25...

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

Yes. I think I understand. I'll try to explain.

If you joined the armed forces, at 50 years you are not able to go at 60 years of age and you don't have 40 years of service. The calculation is made: 44% until 50 years of service or 20 years of service, it depends, and then you have an increase of 1.8% or 2% for every year of service over 20 years. So after 30 years, we have at least another 20% of minimum pension that you have to increase.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

What is the maximum pension for someone 50 years of age with 30 years of service? For example, the 80 rule...

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

Yes. There is a maximum for the pension. After 20 years of service, you can increase at 1.8% or 2% for every year of service. If you have 30 years of service, you start from 20, and go until 30 years, so you gain 10 years. Because the increment every year is 2%, you can start from 44%, which is the minimum, and then you arrive at 64% for the pension.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Is there a minimum age to join the armed forces. Is it 17 or 18?

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

Yes.

The minimum age is 17 or 18.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Right.

Page 9 of your document deals with the inability to serve. If a serviceman has lost one, two or three limbs, is there a basic rule that awards points indicating the category of disability that he will be in? You say that it is 100% for the first category.

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

I don't have that translation in English.

I'm sorry, but can you repeat the question?

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

On page nine, there are categories. Do you have a scale that a soldier can use to see where he fits? For example, if he has lost one, two or three limbs, is there a way to calculate the amount of compensation he could receive?

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

There is a book you can use, depending on the kind of disablement you have. You have the first, the second, and the third categories, but I'm not able to give you the meaning of the six categories because right now I don't know if there is a book like this that you can go to. There is a committee that decides what kind of disablement you have and then the category for the disablement, whether you are in the first, second, third, or fourth category.

Is that the question?

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

I know that it is quite difficult to tell without the book. You are telling me that, for the loss of a limb, points are already assigned, putting the soldier into a certain category. That is the answer I was looking for.

Does the state provide a normal retirement pension? When that pension is paid, is the military pension scheme affected? Is the state retirement pension reduced?

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

I don't know what the difference is between the public compartment and the military compartment, but I can say that in the old age pension, the amount you have at the end of the month is quite the same, because it is 80% of your salary. But there are some bonuses that you can have, so the impact, when you retire.... It's a little bit less, but quite the same. For five years, it is quite the same as the salary. The impact is quite good in retirement.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Monsieur Lévesque, some of your time was used up for translation. I'll give you another question, if you like.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Thank you.

When servicemen get a regular state pension as well as their military pension, is the military pension affected?

[BGen Sanzio Bonotto]

Yes, not as the public pension changes, but after five or ten years, it changes. The military pension follows the public compartment after five years in paying for pensions. We are going to reduce the pensions in Italy, so the military pensions have to follow the public compartment.

There are some changes in the public compartment that directly affect the military compartment. It is affected after five or ten years or so, depending on what kinds of changes are made in the public compartment. It's not always possible to make a comparison between the two, because probably in the public compartment they don't gain any bonds. For the military, they do, so we pay a higher contribution for our pension than the public compartment. This is why the military compartment doesn't change as the public compartment does.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you very much for your question, Mr. Lévesque.

Mr. Stoffer, you have five minutes.