QP Friday — In Fantino’s wake
Veterans Affairs is in a bit of a mess. Despite Parm Gill’s assertions over the relatively minuscule amount of money going into Veterans Affairs advertising, putting an additional $4 million towards...
View ArticleQuestion period live – Heating up
The mercury’s scraping into the high twenties in Ottawa, just one more reminder for MPs of the long days between them and summer liberation. On the menu today? Foreign workers continue to grab...
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‘Mr. Fantino … can I talk to you, please?’
More from Andrew Mitrovica available here. Why does Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino hate veterans? Maybe “hate” is too strong a word. Let’s just say that he has a peculiar way of showing his...
View ArticleCommittee partisans find common ground on Veterans Charter
In a rarely-seen move Tuesday, MPs from the Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs put partisanship aside to table a unanimous report on a review of the controversial New Veterans Charter. The...
View ArticleNew Democrats welcome Jenifer Migneault to caucus
The wife of a veteran who chased down Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino last week pleading for more support for military spouses appeared before the NDP weekly caucus meeting Wednesday morning...
View ArticleFurious veterans converge on the Hill to demand changes to New Veterans Charter
A group of veterans who feel they have been “betrayed” by the federal government took to Parliament Hill Wednesday to protest recent cuts to veterans affairs under the New Veterans Charter. Veterans,...
View ArticleSoldiers’ families ‘live the mission with us’, Dallaire says in urging support
Liberal Senator Romeo Dallaire used one of his last speeches in the upper chamber Monday evening to press for greater federal support for veterans’ families. In his goodbye speech, Dallaire emphasized...
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Loose lips: Free speech and the Canadian Forces
The treatment of Canadian Forces veterans has been a difficult subject this past year. One story in particular caught a lot of attention — “Wounded soldiers told to sign form agreeing not to criticize...
View ArticleThe number of homeless veterans in Canada is soaring
The number of homeless people identified by Veterans Affairs Canada has skyrocketed over the last five years, jumping from just 35 in 2009-2010 to 236 last year. But the true figure could be much...
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Addictions, mental illness pushing veterans onto the street: experts
It was one of the hardest days of her long career in the military. Just one month before launching a volunteer organization to find and help homeless veterans, Capt. Victoria Ryan learned a former...
View ArticleCBC report on vets’ benefits ‘troubling’, says Fantino
Dear Editor, I write today in regards to the CBC investigative report that found Canadian veterans living in Nova Scotia, where some who served for as few as “two months in the 1960s” are receiving...
View ArticleConservatives to overhaul benefits again to address veterans’ complaints
The Harper government plans further changes to its oft-maligned veterans charter, hoping to take the political sting out of complaints by ex-soldiers threatening to campaign against them in the next...
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Delay, deny and die: The Harper government and veterans
We’re proud to present a chapter from iPolitics’ columnist Michael Harris’s bestselling book about the Harper majority government, Party of One. In the following chapter, Harris describes how...
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The final front: Veterans versus Harper in 2015
More from Michael Harris available here. John Ralston Saul is probably right — our Maple Leaf Mussolini would have impressed old Benito himself, shiny boots and all. Canada’s Master Confuser has hit...
View ArticleAngry veterans launch ‘Anybody But Conservative’ campaign to defeat Tories in...
“We need a government that will look after us veterans,” said Ron Clarke, a 36-year-veteran, in an emotional plea. For Clarke and veterans advocate Mike Blais, the federal election can’t come soon...
View ArticleDeparture of top staffer marks shake-up underway at Veterans Affairs
Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino is losing a key staff member in yet another sign that a major shakeup is underway in the politically troubled portfolio. Jacques Fauteux, Fantino’s chief of...
View ArticleTories seek to mend fences with some, but not all, veterans groups
Veterans Affairs is embarking Wednesday on an effort to rebuild bridges with groups that represent disgruntled ex-soldiers, but it is excluding some organizations that have threatened to campaign...
View ArticleFantino looks to repair Conservatives’ damaged relationship with veterans
Veterans Affairs is embarking Wednesday on an effort to rebuild bridges with groups that represent disgruntled ex-soldiers, but it is excluding some organizations that have threatened to campaign...
View ArticleOver $1.1B in unspent funds at Veterans Affairs since 2006: documents
Veterans Affairs Canada has returned $1.13 billion to the federal treasury in unspent funds since the Conservatives came to power in 2006 — cash that critics say should have gone towards improved...
View ArticleVeterans seek answers from Conservatives on $1.13B in lapsed funds
Veterans groups are responding angrily to news that the federal department responsible for their care and benefits was unable to spend upwards of $1.1 billion of its budget over seven years. The...
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