Mr. Speaker, yesterday was a red-letter day for 6,500 disabled veterans in this country. After a five and a half year legal challenge, Dennis Manuge and his legal team of Peter Driscoll and Dan Wallace of McInnes Cooper in Halifax finally won what was rightfully theirs.
In 2006, the NDP moved a motion to eliminate the SISIP clawback. Unfortunately, the Conservatives at the time voted against it and told these veterans to go to court. That is what they did. Thankfully, the government realized that it would not win that case and now these disabled veterans will get the money they so rightfully deserve.
I personally want to thank Dennis Manuge from my riding, the lead plaintiff in this, for being the hero for those veterans across the country. I also want to thank all of the individual members of Parliament who convinced the government not to challenge this decision. Sadly, it had to go to court in the first place. Hopefully, this will be a lesson to all members of Parliament, now and in the future, that disabled veterans should never have to go to court to get the benefits they so rightfully deserve.