Show Us A Sign!

By Mike Nickerson

Well done, Mark! Can I call you Mark? You seem affable enough in interviews, so I’m going with Mark. And by gum, Mark, that was quite a turnaround. Only a few months ago the Liberal party was on life support, looking down the barrel of the worst election defeat since 1993. Now, whether that turnaround was your doing or Donald Trump’s is an open question, though Jean Chrétien calling for Trump to be awarded the Order of Canada, was probably on the mark (pardon the pun). I mean, let’s face it, if Kamala Harris was President you’d still be in the private sector making ungodly amounts of money. Though I guess putting it that way means condolences are actually in order. So, tough blow old chap.

            Regardless, you are now the duly elected prime minister of our fair land, with a set of expectations I dare say no prime minister in recent memory has had to shoulder. And may I just say, so far so good. You passed your first test, meeting with your political benefactor, where you not only succeeded in keeping down your lunch in the Oval Office, but calmly and adroitly stage managed what could have turned very messy in a hurry (Volodymyr Zelenskyy anyone?). It was just the right balance of deference and firmness dealing with the most volatile ego in US presidential history. He might still turn on you anytime now like the attention deficit afflicted child that he is, but a good start nonetheless.

            In the meantime, you’ve set yourself some lofty goals if your campaign pledges are anything to go by, particularly with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). To be clear, whether people voted Liberal or Conservative, they all had some serious expectations about getting our military back on its feet in a way that will protect our sovereignty while not being so beholden to our flaky neighbours to the south.

            And sure, you made all the right noises such as ordering a re-evaluation of our F35 procurement, and reaching out to European allies to work together and actually be involved in producing some of the military kit that’s all the rage in our conflict-riddled world.

            Unfortunately, every government makes the right noises during an election. Your predecessor did it with great regularity while actually doing jack squat, if I may use the technical term. It was why Liberals were about to be forced into retirement en masse until everyone got worried about being annexed by Uncle Sam. So if I may offer just a soupçon of advice it would be this: for the love of whatever god you worship, please get moving on your pledges. Because it’s no exaggeration that Canadians are desperately looking for results.

            What might that look like? Well, for a start you might want to accelerate your timeline. As it stands, you’ve pledged to merely maintain the operations and maintenance budget for one more year before tripling it in 2026. The CAF has been struggling to keep its head above water with that amount, much less actually being ready to do anything. It’s what keeps the military operating, helps with recruitment, training and maintenance of the decade’s old junk that’s still actually running, if in ever-limited numbers. In short, triple it now, not next year, and give leadership the money to start building and training our CAF members to be ready to operate all that nice, non-US kit you’ve promised.

            Speaking of which, you may have noticed that our military brass has a real fondness with all things American. So not to put too fine a point on it, but you need to show them and Canadians who’s the new boss in town, with none of the whining and stalling tactics senior leadership gets up to when they don’t get their US grade A go-bang toys this coming Christmas.

            Needless to say, for that to work you’re going to have to put your money where your campaign mouth was and get moving on streamlining the procurement process. Not next year (or never, as has generally been the case) but now. Canadians need a sign that this time around they’ve got a leader that keeps his bloody promises.

            I could go on, be it making our presence felt in the Arctic or fixing the myriad problems with Veterans Affairs. In short, Canadians need to see that things are being done, not tomorrow but today. It’s a tall order I know, but it’s that sort of urgency you encouraged during the election, and rightfully so given the changing times. So please Mark, show us a sign it wasn’t all for naught…again.

Follow the Money: Trudeau's Promises Kept

(Teresa Marshall / @teeamarshall on Instagram)

Mike 'Blazer' Blais

I am pretty sure that veterans will recall outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promises, which he made during the 2015 election campaign. A decade has passed since then. Admittedly there have been times wherein as an advocate, I felt compelled to pro-actively hold him to his word. This was particularly the case, when Trudeau's government appeared to be waffling on key issues such as the Pension for Life. However, by and large Canadian veterans have done well under his mandate. Objectively speaking, a majority of the promises which Trudeau made to dis-enfranchised veterans in 2015 have been honoured. While there yet may be work still required to 'fine tune' some of these new-and-improved policies, disabled veterans, particularly those who were injured or wounded in Afghanistan, should be grateful for those reformed benefits which they now receive.

I have been a proactive veterans stakeholder since 2011, and under the Liberal mandate, I have served on successive Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) Minister’s policy and mental health advisory committees. I currently serve as one of the Co-Chair’s for the new minister’s Health and Well-Being advisory. Be advised, I have a rigid policy with respect to assessing advocacy successes and the correlation of comprehensive legislation and subsequent funding. I am confident readers will concur with me when I state, unequivocally, a government’s promises are worthless without legislation and adequate financial support.

The resultant repercussions, which were inherent upon the last Conservative government’s reign of austerity at VAC. proved catastrophic to many within the veterans community. Budget-balancing initiatives cruelly targeted VAC and stripped the department of hundreds of case managers, client service agents and administrative staff. Consequently, case management suffered greatly as the remaining staff were forced to confront increased levels of veteran’s dissatisfaction due to unrealistic Client:Case Manager ratios. The dreaded backlog, having already attained critical dimensions, became overwhelming once the Liberal promises were honoured and disenfranchised veterans, by the thousands, stepped forward to avail themselves of the eligibility modified or remedial programs. Despite refilling hundreds of positions, the backlog persists in challenging the 16-week departmental adjudication threshold and case management ratio standards remain problematic.

When Trudeau made VAC’s staffing promises, he also responded to veterans who challenged Conservative plans to render several district offices redundant, by pledging to reopen them. Once again, the promise has been honoured. If one 'follows-the-money', to date some $78 billion has been dispersed over five years on staffing and reopening the once shuttered offices in Charlottetown, Sydney, Corner Brook, Windsor, Thunder Bay, Saskatoon and Kelowna. Furthermore, an additional VAC office was established in Surrey, BC and the outreach program expanded to include support for veterans living in remote regions in the far north.

Trudeau spent $3.6 billion to sponsor the Pension for Life program and in conformance with our advocacy objectives, this has provided veterans a choice between a life-time, non taxable monthly pension for younger veterans and, the for community's elders, a lump sum award (LSA). As promised, in 2019 the Liberals also raised the maligned LSA threshold to achieve parity with the $360k civilian insurance payouts. Legislation included supplemental programs which acknowledge severe and catastrophic disabilities through both the Pain and Suffering Compensation and Additional Pain and Suffering Compensation plans. Veterans who were cast adrift by SISIP after the mandatory two-year periods were provided the Income Replacement Program with a 90% threshold. This is 15% higher than those who are SISIP, established. Furthermore, the Liberals created a retirement benefit for veterans with a Diminished Earning Capacity (DEC) designation and through this award, for those aged 65 and up, financial support will be provided at 70% of the IRB award, for life. 

Substantial funds have been dedicated towards creating or improving programs which pertain to veteran’s mental health. An allocation of $140 million was dedicated to support five years of mental health services and to support those veterans with PTSD, Depression or Anxiety Disorders while their disability benefit is being processed. This is a remarkable change in policy obligations, and to their credit, specifically designed to bypass the inherent service restrictions posed by the backlog and afford immediate treatment funding for services while the individual case is still being determined.

In 2024, $62 million was dedicated to the newly launched homelessness program. Another $4 million was dedicated to the Veterans Emergency Fund in 2018, along with $1 million per year to ensure these vital, emergency-focused support systems remain viable. Over $133 million was spent to support the education and training benefit with an additional $10 million budgeted per year on an ongoing basis. The Caregiver Recognition Benefit, was started in 2016 with a $187 million infusion. Since then, close to $10 million per year has been committed to this project.

Trudeau kept many of his other, very expensive, electoral promises such as; the Centre of Excellence’s on Mental Health and Chronic Pain, the Family Well-Being Fund, and the National Veterans Employment Strategy. Consultation with veterans and stakeholders was vastly improved through six ministerial advisory committees which  were struck to assess and advise the Minister on; Policy, Service Excellence, Mental Health, Families, Care and Support and Commemoration. I can attest that an array of positive policy changes identified following robust consultation with stakeholders, have indeed been implemented. Many veterans of all eras have utilized the Education and Training Benefit, now augmented by a $10 million dollar annual disposition and Military Family Resource Centres, often the primary link during transition, have been expanded from 7 locations to 32 locations across the country.

Like him or not, Trudeau was good for veterans and yes, he kept his promises to them.

Now Reel ‘Em In!

By Mike Nickerson
What’s the first rule in fishing? No it’s not packing a case of beer, though that is important. No sir, the first rule of fishing is to never let up tension on the line. Once that fish is hooked, you reel that line in like your life depends on it! Well that might be a little hyperbolic but you get the idea. The key is to never give up because that fish might spit the hook out and go its merry way. No, if you want more than beer for dinner, then don’t let that fish off that hook!

            Now not knowing which political fish Canadians actually managed to hook this election matters not a whit when it comes to my mid-April prognosticating. Because whether it’s the Liberals or the Conservatives, they both have been putting forward some whopper ideas for Canada’s military. That means some mighty fine eating is on the way…politically speaking of course. Don’t actually eat members of parliament. Bad form that; and way too many bones.

            Whether you are feeling Canada Strong, or you’re happy we elected someone who puts Canada First for a change, we’ll have a new government that has made substantive military proposals. For while the Liberal and Conservative platforms could not be more different in specifics, overall they both stress that the time is now to finally step up and invest in our military. They both reflect a growing unease Canadians have with Donald Trump and the United States.

            And regardless of who actually won, they both put forward some rather good ideas. The Liberals touted an “unprecedented acceleration in our armed forces” with the sort of zeal that might make one dare to believe it might happen.  Expect ship building, icebreaker production, submarine purchases, made-in-Canada drone development, wage hikes for military members, a focus on new military alliances and procurement outside of our good old U.S. of A. comfort zone and the like.

            Or perhaps Canadians chose door number two: a new military base in Iqaluit, armed icebreakers, 2000 more Arctic rangers, and a revamp of Veterans Affairs to cut wait times for benefit claims. And much like their Liberal rivals, a promise to spend like there’s no tomorrow (with Trump involved, it just might be), meeting our NATO spending targets sooner than later, and a general sentiment that we need to buy Canadian where possible, and invest and develop the Canadian defence industry when it isn’t.

            So with all the turmoil of Trump, the annexation threats, tariff threats, pulling out of NATO threats, and generally just threats from a tweaked out, scatterbrained man child, the Canadian populace has become more focused on all things military than it’s arguably been since the Second World War. Somewhat more of a surprise, given the party proposals this election, is that our federal leaders have actually taken notice.

            Unfortunately it’s at about this point that Canadians usually let their government off the hook. Election is over, back to our regular lives, roll your eyes while around the watercooler that the government is backsliding on its promises. It’s a time-honoured tradition in this country, and quite frankly it’s why nothing ever gets done; we let it happen.

            Now I’m not suggesting Canadians take the nuclear option with public protest like some did during the pandemic, if for no other reason than the man who approves my paycheque lives in Ottawa and had his fill of truckers honking their air horns the first time around. But the threats bandied about in this election are real, both to our sovereignty and security. And the government (regardless who won) needs to act with the vigour and haste that was promised or else we are in real trouble.

            In short, don’t let up on the government and its military commitments. Too many times we’ve let governments off the hook and now face the inevitable result of that lapse in effort. So when you start seeing signs of backpedaling or the inevitable excuses and rationales governments are prone to then by God pull on that line! It’s that or be stuck with a case of warm beer while toasting the Fourth of July.