FJAG said:
Any salary paid by an employer is tax deductible in any event but why would an employer pay a soldier a salary (or even just a top-up of the difference between the soldier's military pay and his civilian salary) when he receives no benefit in exchange? Many people's patriotism stops at their pocketbook although some employers generously do provide that (generally lower paying ones). What we need is something in the nature of an additional tax credit over and above the deduction.
In addition there are insurance, pension, seniority etc issues. The problems aren't insurmountable; what's missing is political will. Hell, if we can't get benefits right for our wounded reserve vets, how can we expect any further action on this front (especially when it's a very low priority issue for our regular force masters) - Colour me pessimistic :brickwall:
:cheers:
I mentioned
elsewhere that we cannot get things done until we have a sensible
defence policy and I said that
my sense is that anything like a sensible defence policy, and the political-bureaucratic discussions that must surround it, are "unwelcome" in
official Ottawa because of the expense ~ we Canadians are downright
Elizabethan in our views on the the military. This government, and both of its potential replacements, have other priorities and they
may see other, more serious, non-military threats on the immediate horizon.
But, there are two ways to make
policy:
1. Mostly we prefer the "top down," well structured
white paper route. The cabinet blesses a
policy, implicitly agreeing to funding, for a particular ministry or function, like National Defence. This is "comfortable" for politicians, the public,
bureaucrats and soldiers, alike;
2. From the "bottom up," people like the CDS
propose projects to the cabinet and secure Treasury Board (the policy centre's) support. Ideally, hopefully, these projects are al tied together in an (invisible to most people) "master plan."
I do not believe either policy making option is in use in Ottawa, today, because, I repeat, defence policy, even individual, (relatively) low cost
initiatives like reserve force restructuring, are "unwelcome" in the
political centre.