Veterans Affairs committee  I think that's one of the most important things. It's nice when veterans are recognized and there are implementations brought forward. But we're in a position here now, and veterans are very aware of this, where the Conservatives have a majority. If they wanted to fix these issue

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, to be fair, I think dialogue has to happen on that, Mr. O'Toole. It's not fair for me to come here as Mike Blais and say I need you to make that $40,000. You've got to balance that. That's not the object; that's not my intent in bringing these issues up. My intent is to sta

Veterans Affairs committee  I think that's unfair. The reality is, veterans are confronting very serious financial discord when they reach the age of 65. There's a bridging clawback, a loss of their long-term disability benefits, whether it be ELB or SISIP. There's a loss of CPP. There are serious issues th

Veterans Affairs committee  A lump-sum award has to be the priority for all veterans organizations and veterans advocates who are sitting here. We have young men who have been viciously wounded, suffering mental and physical calamities, who have been forced by this government to turn to the courts for justi

Veterans Affairs committee  I think our expectations are very clear, and they have been established by the judge in the SISIP ruling. We have a government. God bless them, they want to harmonize with this legal decision. But harmonization must be complete. We can't cherry-pick through the issues we'd like t

Veterans Affairs committee  Certainly. We have a situation now where through the ELB and the SISIP program the government has correctly, I believe, identified a threshold that provides for the basic dignity of life, that being food, shelter, and clothing. Once this threshold has been identified, it must

Veterans Affairs committee  I think there's a problem in one sense that we haven't identified, and that is the inclusion of war pensions from other nations. By definition, these war pensions are identical to the Veterans Affairs Canada award. Those pensions are allocated for pain and suffering, yet they are

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen. First, permit me to express the Canadian Veterans Advocacy's satisfaction that the government has fulfilled their pledge to harmonize war pensions and allowances with the recent SISIP legal decisions. By defin