GAFFES AND SCANDALS: Veterans still angry and fighting for proper pensions
"They're asking for too much" town-hall answer might still enrage some veterans
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Campaigning across the country can be fraught with hiccups and difficulties.
An example from 2018 illustrates how a simple town-hall meeting to engage with voters can lead to controversy.
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In Edmonton — at the tail end of a listening tour by Justin Trudeau — retired corporal Brock Blaszczyk, who lost his left leg in Afghanistan in 2009, confronted him about a promise not to fight veterans in court.
Trudeau responded by saying: “Why are we still fighting certain veterans groups in court? Because they’re asking for more than we are able to give right now.”
After quieting some boos from the crowd, the prime minister went on to defend a new system of providing compensation and support to veterans, which includes money for rehabilitation, job training and caregiver support.
In 2015, Trudeau said that if he was elected, veterans would no longer have to fight the government in court for fair and equitable compensation for injuries received while in uniform.
The Liberals also promised to reinstate lifelong disability pensions for injured veterans, which were replaced by a lump-sum payment, rehabilitation programs and targeted-income support in 2006.
But upon taking power, the Liberals continued to fight a lawsuit filed against the previous Conservative government by six injured veterans demanding the reinstatement of the old pensions.
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In late 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal by the group of Afghan war veterans.
That ended the case.
A separate and different class-action lawsuit on behalf of 270, 000 veterans was certified by Federal Court in December 2020.
The government filed a statement of defence in that case four weeks ago on July 30.
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