Are vets benefits "overly generous"? (split from CDS to CTV)

[Towards_the_gap]

I gotta comment on this.... "some Pedestal" quote.... Some of the guys on my crew have served from Cyprus to Afghanistan. We've had CAF vets on my FD fall through floors on structure fires (the only thing that saved him was an awesome partner and a well placed hose), get caught in flashovers and have had more near misses than one FF could imagine. We do put safety first and like to stress everybody goes home because we know the importance of losing a brother or sister. I am under the assumption that the comment "some pedestal" comes from a respect of emergency services towards the intrinsic value of life safety in any operation. Once again I'm not trolling but as someone who is just a firefighter with no military experience I think the quote from Patton sums it up the best:

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb ******* die for his country."
George S. Patton

We've never beaten a fire or any other incident by dying... We'll happily and willingly put our lives up as collateral on a job for good reason. That's just simple tactics.

I think you took my quote out of context. I was stating that the 'pedestal' that some believe the forces are mistakenly placed upon in a bit of hero-worship is, as others have said, a mile wide and an inch deep. If you asked the average Canadian if he 'supports the troops', you'll most likely get a regurgitated quote about heros and standing on guard and keeping us free and all that. If you followed up that question with 'what social program/government department/tax break do you want to cut in order to fully support our veterans and provide unlimited care for injured and ill soldiers', you'd probably get a lot of humming and hawing and they would basically change their tune. Is it any different for cops/ff's/paramedics? No, but cops/ff's/paramedics have unions/association which will negotiate further critical injury/death and dismemberment/long term disability benefits

 

[mariomike]

Is it any different for cops/ff's/paramedics? No, but cops/ff's/paramedics have unions/association which will negotiate further critical injury/death and dismemberment/long term disability benefits

Duty to Accommodate guarantees you a job for life with the city.

"Suitable employment consistent with the employee's skills and functional abilities that does not pose a health and safety hazard to the employee or the co-worker."

You keep your rate of pay, and get your raises every year. Same as you did on Operations.

You may also receive a Non-Economic Loss ( NEL ) award from WSIB.

 

[The Bread Guy]

This bit from the House of Commons question period yesterday, with an interesting crafting of an explanation of benefits available under the current system:

Mr. Rick Norlock (Northumberland—Quinte West, CPC):  Mr. Speaker, since 2006, our government has invested almost $5 billion new dollars to improve financial benefits and improve services like snow cleaning and home cleaning while focusing on veterans' rehabilitation. In total, this represents one-third more than previous governments spent on a yearly basis for Canadian veterans.

    Would the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs please update this House on any new improvements our government has made?

Mr. Parm Gill (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, CPC):  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for Northumberland—Quinte West for his hard work for Canadian veterans.

    In fact, according to the Veterans Ombudsman, a 24-year corporal who is medically released from the military will now receive upwards of $2 million in total financial benefits because of improvements our government has made. What is more, a veteran who is injured in the line of duty will now have up to $75,000 for university or college tuition for retraining and certification programs.

    Our government is focused on helping veterans transition to civilian life, and we will continue to do that.

 

[Nemo888]

This bit from the House of Commons question period yesterday, with an interesting crafting of an explanation of benefits available under the current system:

Except that the numbers tell the opposite story.  Total annual payouts to vets have been been stable at 3,500,000,000. Payouts only increased by a tiny 1,247,000 in 2012, an increase of 0.03%.  How does 5 billion turn into 1.2 million in additional benefits?

They do know soldiers can do math and they publish the annual budget right?

 

[Edward Campbell]

A friend of mine posted this on jhis Facebook page ...

    ... and invited us to 'share' it if we agreed.

I haven't done so yet because I have similar views to the ones I posted at the start of the Are vets benefits "overly generous"? page.

I think seniors ~ a group to which I belong ~ are very well, even too well treated. Many, but not all of us, get more benefits than we need.

We get them because we vote in disproportionately high numbers and retail politicians want to buy our vote with your money. So it's analogous to the veterans industry ...

                   

Now, I need to repeat: I think the New Veterans' Charter is immoral because of the way it was introduced: while we had troops in contact with the enemy and without provisions to 'grandfather' members serving when the Act came into force. I suspect it is good policy, at least from an economic standpoint.

I also believe that M Trudeau is making a tactical error in telling seniors (and many others) that he's going to scrap benefits (like the TFSA limits) for which some seniors' and family advocacy groups campaigned.

But just because something is good politics or good economics doesn't make it right.

 

[Words_Twice]

In my humble opinion, the system is open to abuse and this undermines the support that is required by those in dire needs.  During the past year, I was aghast by request to get CF 98's returned quickly so that young soldiers could go to VAC to submit a claim.  I openly encourage that proper paperwork be submitted to document incidents, however, to be talking a VAC claim immediately for a tweak at morning PT led me to believe there was coaching occurring amongst the troops.  I am sure that there are plugs at VAC, however, when you receive an enormous amount of claims it is sometimes hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.  I don't think that it is overgenerous, just bogged down with erstwhile claims that take away from the folks that need it the most. 

Replying to an ancient post, I know. It is certainly better than the "good ole days" when you were to told to STFU, stop snivelling and soldier on. I would prefer a climate where reporting legitimate injuries are encouraged, not laughed at (seen it, trust me).