Honouring our veterans

Canadian veterans have made untold sacrifices for our country. To honour their
service, we need to offer the best care and support possible when they come
home.

Unfortunately, for too long, veterans have had to fight for the benefits they’ve
earned. For a decade, the Conservative government denied and clawed back
benefits, took veterans to court, and cut access to basic care. They closed nine
regional offices that provided services for tens of thousands of veterans across
Canada and argued in court that the government has no sacred obligation to care
for Canada’s veterans.

While hopes were high that the Liberal government would improve veterans care,
they’ve broken their commitments, failed to improve services, and left billions in
money earmarked for veterans care unspent. Years of court cases and broken
promises have deepened the disappointment and mistrust that’s felt by many of
Canada’s veterans.

It’s time to do right by our veterans.

A New Democrat government will honour the special bond of mutual obligation
between Canadians and veterans, and deliver the services that veterans need and
deserve. As part of this process, we will launch a full review of benefits and work
with veterans to determine the best way to provide fair benefits to all veterans,
including tackling the issue of equal access to lifetime pensions.

Veterans shouldn’t have to wait weeks or even months to receive the services
they need. We’ll get rid of backlogs and step up high-quality, personalized service
delivery by providing one caseworker for every twenty-five veterans and
improving services that are delivered by phone and online.

There’s also much more that we can do to ease the transition from service for
veterans. A New Democrat government will give Canadian Forces members access
to care and support before the transition and make sure that their benefits are in
place before they are released from service.
To give more veterans access to post-secondary education and training that works
for them, we will expand the education benefit to more people. We will also help
support veterans and their families by reviewing the caregiver allowance and
making it available to more people.

New Democrats will work with partners in community services and the veterans
community to end veteran homelessness for good – because one veteran on the
streets is one too many.

And to ensure that taxpayer money earmarked for veterans care actually gets
spent on it, we will automatically carry forward all annual lapsed spending in
Veterans Affairs to improve services. There should never be an incentive for any
government to save money on the backs of veterans.