- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
(wouldn‘t be nice if Parliament passed the necessary legislation as quickly as they voted themselves a better benefits package ... ???)
Peacetime military veterans deserve better treatment, panel says
By JOHN WARD / The Canadian Press
Thursday, March 18, 2004 - The Halifax Herald Limited
OTTAWA - Peacetime military veterans deserve the same kind of benefits that awaited their grandfathers when they came home from the Second World War and Korea, an advisory group said Wednesday.
The advisory council said people who leave the forces because of physical or mental injuries face complicated rules and regulations that can hobble their efforts to get help.
"Let‘s cut out the red tape," said Peter Neary, former dean of social sciences at the University of Western Ontario and chairman of the Defence-Veterans Affairs advisory council.
"They shouldn‘t have to fight a second battle on the home front," said Romeo Dallaire, retired general and a member of the council.
Their discussion paper said the whole system of benefits needs to be overhauled.
It should be simpler, for example, to get a pension, the document said. There should also be a program of benefits and services to help former military people move back into civilian life.
Neary said Second World War and Korea veterans came home to the Veterans Charter, a benefits program second to none. They could go to university, learn a trade or upgrade existing skills at government expense. They could get cheap loans for housing or to buy a farm or a fishing boat.
They got support money for their families while they went to school or training.
Slowly, over the years of peace, those programs eroded, until little remains except some supplemental health benefits and help to keep vets living in their homes in old age.
Today, veterans of peacetime service outnumber war vets. About 5,000 people leave the military each year, but find little to help them adjust to the switch to civvy street.
The council said there should be a new charter for the veterans of peacekeeping and peacemaking missions - "a new version suited to modern needs," said Neary.
The council recommended:
- a reformed pension system, for those disabled in the service;
- a program of transition benefits;
- better support for families;
- expanded health benefits, including rehabilitation and mental-health programs;
- a policy to give veterans first crack at public-service jobs;
- improved funeral and burial benefits.
"Many of those who once served Canada on dangerous United Nations and NATO missions are at risk because their country no longer has a full range of re-establishment programs to help them," Neary said.
He didn‘t have a price tag for the recommendations, but said much can be done just by streamlining existing processes.
A spokesman for Veterans Affairs Minister John McCallum said the department welcomes the recommendations.
The Royal Canadian Legion also endorsed the council‘s recommendations.
++++++++++
MPs quietly extend own benefits
‘Sweetheart‘ bill tops up medical plan at 50, not 55
Tim Naumetz, CanWest News Service
Thursday, March 18, 2004
OTTAWA - Government and opposition MPs took only minutes last week to pass a bill that will extend Parliament‘s medical insurance plan to retired MPs five years earlier than it would otherwise be available.
The legislation will allow 50-year-old former MPs to receive topped-up medical and hospital benefits until they qualify for the normal parliamentary retirement plan that kicks in at age 55.
In a deal reached earlier in private, all parties agreed to treat the bill as though it had received first reading in the usual process, second reading, committee hearings, committee report stage, and third and final reading in only 15 minutes, according to the time notations in Hansard.
The bill did not leave the Commons floor and no committee hearings took place.
Only three MPs, government House leader Jacques Saada, former Conservative leader Joe Clark and Bloc Quebecois MP Benoit Sauvageau, spoke to the bill, all in support.
Although Mr. Saada claimed the bill puts MPs on an equal footing with public servants, who have access to their government health and dental plans in retirement, the Public Service Alliance of Canada says the bill is more generous than the public service plan.
Paul Martin, the Prime Minister, pledged yesterday that "come **** or high water" he will end waste and mismanagement in the federal government.
The leading national lobby group against government waste and high taxes denounced the hasty passage as a "sweetheart deal" that makes MPs of all stripes appear hypocritical when they claim the current health care system is serving ordinary Canadians well.
"It‘s appalling," said John Williamson, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, who added the sleight-of-hand procedure demonstrates MPs can act swiftly on measures that affect them directly while major issues drag on for months in Parliament.
"When it‘s in their best interest, the system works very well, thank you very much," said Mr. Williamson, arguing the bill and the generous parliamentary health scheme show even Liberal and NDP MPs recognize government health plans are not providing Canadians with adequate care.
The brief Commons debate on the bill took place immediately after Question Period last Friday, when members of the parliamentary press gallery who would normally be inside the chamber were interviewing Cabinet ministers and MPs outside the Commons.
Mr. Saada said in the debate that public servants who retire at age 50 are able to continue their participation in the public service health care plan and argued the bill means "all parliamentarians who are entitled to a pension will be able to get coverage under these medical plans beginning at age 50, just like public servants."
But James Infantino, a pensions and disability officer with the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the chief union for rank-and-file government employees, pointed out that public servants who leave the government can only continue to take part in their plan if they are drawing a government pension. The only pension available for a retired public servant at age 50 is a reduced allowance that depletes the eventual pension benefits by 5% a year as long as the allowance is being drawn.
"It‘s more generous than the public service plan," said Mr. Infantino, who broke out laughing when told of Mr. Saada‘s claim that the bill puts MPs on the same footing as public servants.
While public servants contribute premiums for their plan, even in retirement, taxpayers pay premiums for the basic parliamentary health insurance plan, which takes care of major medical costs not covered by medicare. Extended coverage is available for MPs, with an annual deductible amount of only $60, for such things as prescription drugs, private nurses and extra vision care and hearings aids.
The same plan is available to retired MPs, but only when they begin collecting their pensions at age 55. The legislation passed last Friday, Bill C-24, will bridge the gap and allow MPs who retire earlier to benefit from the parliamentary health plan before drawing their pensions, unlike public servants.
MPs qualify for a pension after six years in the Commons, with the benefits increasing with each additional year of service.
The legislation was dubbed the "Wendy Lill bill" for the NDP MP who is retiring in part because she has multiple sclerosis.
For retiring MPs like Ms. Lill, with a known medical condition, the scheme will offer access to supplementary health insurance for drugs and specialized care that might not be accessible through private plans. An aide to Ms. Lill, who turns 54 in November, said the Halifax MP brought the gap in coverage to the attention of other MPs after she began planning her retirement.
The bill must still be passed by the Senate.
Peacetime military veterans deserve better treatment, panel says
By JOHN WARD / The Canadian Press
Thursday, March 18, 2004 - The Halifax Herald Limited
OTTAWA - Peacetime military veterans deserve the same kind of benefits that awaited their grandfathers when they came home from the Second World War and Korea, an advisory group said Wednesday.
The advisory council said people who leave the forces because of physical or mental injuries face complicated rules and regulations that can hobble their efforts to get help.
"Let‘s cut out the red tape," said Peter Neary, former dean of social sciences at the University of Western Ontario and chairman of the Defence-Veterans Affairs advisory council.
"They shouldn‘t have to fight a second battle on the home front," said Romeo Dallaire, retired general and a member of the council.
Their discussion paper said the whole system of benefits needs to be overhauled.
It should be simpler, for example, to get a pension, the document said. There should also be a program of benefits and services to help former military people move back into civilian life.
Neary said Second World War and Korea veterans came home to the Veterans Charter, a benefits program second to none. They could go to university, learn a trade or upgrade existing skills at government expense. They could get cheap loans for housing or to buy a farm or a fishing boat.
They got support money for their families while they went to school or training.
Slowly, over the years of peace, those programs eroded, until little remains except some supplemental health benefits and help to keep vets living in their homes in old age.
Today, veterans of peacetime service outnumber war vets. About 5,000 people leave the military each year, but find little to help them adjust to the switch to civvy street.
The council said there should be a new charter for the veterans of peacekeeping and peacemaking missions - "a new version suited to modern needs," said Neary.
The council recommended:
- a reformed pension system, for those disabled in the service;
- a program of transition benefits;
- better support for families;
- expanded health benefits, including rehabilitation and mental-health programs;
- a policy to give veterans first crack at public-service jobs;
- improved funeral and burial benefits.
"Many of those who once served Canada on dangerous United Nations and NATO missions are at risk because their country no longer has a full range of re-establishment programs to help them," Neary said.
He didn‘t have a price tag for the recommendations, but said much can be done just by streamlining existing processes.
A spokesman for Veterans Affairs Minister John McCallum said the department welcomes the recommendations.
The Royal Canadian Legion also endorsed the council‘s recommendations.
++++++++++
MPs quietly extend own benefits
‘Sweetheart‘ bill tops up medical plan at 50, not 55
Tim Naumetz, CanWest News Service
Thursday, March 18, 2004
OTTAWA - Government and opposition MPs took only minutes last week to pass a bill that will extend Parliament‘s medical insurance plan to retired MPs five years earlier than it would otherwise be available.
The legislation will allow 50-year-old former MPs to receive topped-up medical and hospital benefits until they qualify for the normal parliamentary retirement plan that kicks in at age 55.
In a deal reached earlier in private, all parties agreed to treat the bill as though it had received first reading in the usual process, second reading, committee hearings, committee report stage, and third and final reading in only 15 minutes, according to the time notations in Hansard.
The bill did not leave the Commons floor and no committee hearings took place.
Only three MPs, government House leader Jacques Saada, former Conservative leader Joe Clark and Bloc Quebecois MP Benoit Sauvageau, spoke to the bill, all in support.
Although Mr. Saada claimed the bill puts MPs on an equal footing with public servants, who have access to their government health and dental plans in retirement, the Public Service Alliance of Canada says the bill is more generous than the public service plan.
Paul Martin, the Prime Minister, pledged yesterday that "come **** or high water" he will end waste and mismanagement in the federal government.
The leading national lobby group against government waste and high taxes denounced the hasty passage as a "sweetheart deal" that makes MPs of all stripes appear hypocritical when they claim the current health care system is serving ordinary Canadians well.
"It‘s appalling," said John Williamson, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, who added the sleight-of-hand procedure demonstrates MPs can act swiftly on measures that affect them directly while major issues drag on for months in Parliament.
"When it‘s in their best interest, the system works very well, thank you very much," said Mr. Williamson, arguing the bill and the generous parliamentary health scheme show even Liberal and NDP MPs recognize government health plans are not providing Canadians with adequate care.
The brief Commons debate on the bill took place immediately after Question Period last Friday, when members of the parliamentary press gallery who would normally be inside the chamber were interviewing Cabinet ministers and MPs outside the Commons.
Mr. Saada said in the debate that public servants who retire at age 50 are able to continue their participation in the public service health care plan and argued the bill means "all parliamentarians who are entitled to a pension will be able to get coverage under these medical plans beginning at age 50, just like public servants."
But James Infantino, a pensions and disability officer with the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the chief union for rank-and-file government employees, pointed out that public servants who leave the government can only continue to take part in their plan if they are drawing a government pension. The only pension available for a retired public servant at age 50 is a reduced allowance that depletes the eventual pension benefits by 5% a year as long as the allowance is being drawn.
"It‘s more generous than the public service plan," said Mr. Infantino, who broke out laughing when told of Mr. Saada‘s claim that the bill puts MPs on the same footing as public servants.
While public servants contribute premiums for their plan, even in retirement, taxpayers pay premiums for the basic parliamentary health insurance plan, which takes care of major medical costs not covered by medicare. Extended coverage is available for MPs, with an annual deductible amount of only $60, for such things as prescription drugs, private nurses and extra vision care and hearings aids.
The same plan is available to retired MPs, but only when they begin collecting their pensions at age 55. The legislation passed last Friday, Bill C-24, will bridge the gap and allow MPs who retire earlier to benefit from the parliamentary health plan before drawing their pensions, unlike public servants.
MPs qualify for a pension after six years in the Commons, with the benefits increasing with each additional year of service.
The legislation was dubbed the "Wendy Lill bill" for the NDP MP who is retiring in part because she has multiple sclerosis.
For retiring MPs like Ms. Lill, with a known medical condition, the scheme will offer access to supplementary health insurance for drugs and specialized care that might not be accessible through private plans. An aide to Ms. Lill, who turns 54 in November, said the Halifax MP brought the gap in coverage to the attention of other MPs after she began planning her retirement.
The bill must still be passed by the Senate.
