upandatom said:
He is one of the few that isnt biased and speaks factual information and truth.
Unfortunately, I have to disagree with this assessment. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have a public figure of Mr. Mercer's stature championing the plight of Veterans, however, I must say that there is some slight of hand to this report of his. First of all, to the statement he isn't biased - he specifically says "My buddy Paul...." right there he is stating he has personal ties to a friend who is a Veteran, and therefore, there is a degree of conflict of interest. I'm NOT saying there is something wrong with his friendship, but the fact is, he has a friend who he is standing behind in this Veterans vs. Government issue. Bravo Zulu to his friend Paul for having a friend of influence that helps raise public awareness to Veterans needs.
My statement on the slight of hand to this particular rant is he says, and I quote his verbal report;
"My buddy Paul is a Veteran. He lost both his legs in Afghanistan. Every year, they make him prove over and over again that his legs are still gone. Four times they've said "Nope, we're not taking your word for it. You have to prove they're still gone." Literally, a note saying his legs have not grown back. You know, in case he's pulling a fast one. His friend was shot in the head and has to prove over and over again that he still has no vision in his left eye. His left eye by the way, is made out of glass."
This statement is rather ambiguous in my opinion. First of all, to the average Canadian listening to this rant, it is wide open to interpretation. He says every year they make him prove over and over again that his legs are still gone. Well, WHO exactly is making him prove this? Doesn't say, but the implication is VAC or the Government is making this ridiculous demand of him. Well, I don't know Mr. Franklin personally, so I can't say for certain what his financial situation is, but I am going to ASSUME that due to his condition, he was medically released from the Forces. That being said, he would be receiving 75% of his salary from Manulife Financial. Medically released personnel get 2 years salary from SISIP after release, but if their condition persists or is chronic, they get turned over to Manulife Financial for Long Term Disability benefits that will continue until age 65, with an ANNUAL REVIEW conducted every 12 months thereafter. Once every twelve months, Manulife Financial sends out questionnaires to ALL of their benefit recipients that include a questionnaire that the member fills out, and a second questionnaire that they bring to their family physician to fill out. All it is, is them asking the doctor what his professional medical opinion is on the individual concerned regarding their ability to function, work, take care of themselves etc etc.
His comment on "Literally, a note saying that his legs have not grown back, you know, in case he's pulling a fast one" is a bit of sensationalism intended to get the average uninformed Canadian saying "Wow!!! This is terrible! Ridiculous and preposterous!" In actuality, it is a standard practiced by ALL insurance companies across the board who are paying out LTD benefits to request an annual medical assessment of recipients to ensure they still qualify for benefits. So, it's a INSURANCE company, NOT the Federal Government or VAC requesting a note stipulating his legs have not in fact, grown back.
VAC is far from perfect, but they make enough s**t sandwiches to take big bites out of without having implied culpability placed on their shoulders for something that, quite frankly, isn't their burden to bear. Perhaps the rant should have pointed out exactly who is requesting Mr. Franklin be forced to prove his legs are not going to grow back should have been clearly identified in the rant. Mr. Franklin paid a helluva price and deserves whatever compensation he gets and then some, but at the end of the day, from an insurance company's point of view, he is no different than one of their benefit recipients who lost limbs in an industrial accident at work here in Canada, and for better or for worse, gets the same paperwork demands for due process, same as any of their other recipients.
I'm sure I'm going to have a big dogpile jump all over me for this, but, as upandatom stated that Rick Mercer speaks "factual information and truth", it's some smoke and mirrors in this rant.
