Federal budget to bring back option of lifetime pensions for veterans
Also in the budget, cities desperate for affordable housing money are also expected to find out next week that they will receive approximately half of the $22 billion in the Liberals’ social infrastructure fund.
TheStar.com
March 17, 2017
Lee Berthiaume
The Liberal government will commit in Wednesday’s federal budget to offer disabled veterans the option of a lifetime pension by the end of the year, The Canadian Press has learned.
While the actual details of the pension will be worked out in the coming months, the commitment to a specific timeline will mark an important benchmark for the Liberals’ signature election promise to veterans.
Canada previously offered lifelong pensions to those hurt in the line of duty, but they were abolished in 2006 and replaced by a new system centred on a lump-sum payment for injuries and career training.
The new system has become a lightning rod for veterans’ anger, with many complaining that it provides less financial support over their lifetimes and demanding that the pensions be restored.
The Liberals were the only party to promise in the 2015 election to bring back life pensions for injured veterans, with the pledge serving as the centrepiece of their effort to court veteran voters.
In last year’s budget, the government moved to increase the maximum lump-sum payment to $360,000 from $310,000, starting this April 1, with the increase retroactive for all who had received it.
They also topped up a number of financial benefits for veterans injured while in uniform and unable to work and reopened nine Veterans Affairs Canada offices that had been closed by the Conservatives.
Those measures were expected to cost $5.6 billion over six years.
But many questioned whether the government would make good on its pledge to bring back the disability pensions, which both the Conservatives and NDP said would be prohibitively expensive.
Representatives from a number of veterans’ groups interviewed earlier this week expressed frustration about the government’s silence and perceived lack of progress on a number of fronts.
Those included providing free education to ex-soldiers and creating a new centre for veterans suffering from PTSD and other psychological injuries.
But the promise to bring back lifelong pensions as an option for disabled veterans alongside lump-sum payments and career training was clearly foremost in their thoughts.
“There’s a lot of things left on (Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr’s) mandate letter that we’re waiting for,” said Deanna Fimrite, dominion secretary-treasurer of Army, Navy, Air Force Veterans in Canada.
“I think probably in the minds of most veterans it is: What is going to be done about lifelong pensions? I think that’s number 1 on most of their lists.”
Cities desperate for affordable housing money are also expected to find out next week that they will receive approximately half of the $22 billion in the Liberals’ social infrastructure fund.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had previously telegraphed to the mayors of the country’s biggest cities that they would receive close to the $12.6 billion they felt was needed to address an affordable housing shortage countrywide.
Since then, municipal leaders and housing providers have privately revised their budgetary expectations down to around $11 billion.
Multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity say the Liberals will unveil spending next week that falls around that mark, making affordable housing a key storyline coming out of the Trudeau government’s second budget.
Adding to the narrative is how the Liberals plans to get the money to cities, with the minister in charge eyeing some non-traditional ways of targeting the cash directly to municipalities so it meets the government’s goals.
