Merged Thread- More Money or Cuts to Veterans Affairs?

[The Bread Guy]

The union representing workers at Veterans Affairs urged the federal government Thursday not to cut hundreds of staff, saying former military members with increasingly complex problems will be the ones to suffer.

Yvan Thauvette, president of the Union of Veterans’ Affairs Employees, said staff are already overburdened, with some case workers handling up to 900 files.

That could rise sharply if the department loses staff as part of Ottawa’s promise to cut costs in each department by up to 10 per cent.

“If they intend to cut frontline staff tomorrow, you better watch out because the services to veterans will be lower down,” he told reporters in Halifax.

“This exercise, if applied, will have a direct impact on the services provided to veterans.”

Thauvette wants Veterans Affairs to be excluded from the ongoing government-wide review aimed at reducing program spending for the next budget by five or 10 per cent in each department.

Veterans Affairs is planning to cut $226 million from its budget in the next two years.

Thauvette said that will likely result in 500 job cuts by 2015, putting more strain on already overloaded workers while degrading services for veterans. He expects that 350 frontline staff who deal directly with the country’s roughly 200,000 clients will be lost ....

The Canadian Press, via the Toronto Star, 19 Jan 12

 

[TN2IC]

B.S.

Lets the bastards and basterdetts jump through the hoops.

"Because people are stressed, tired and burned out...." That's the Vets dealing with VAC, not the unionized VAC employees.


Virginia Vaillancourt : “I’ve had clients pass away before I can get equipment to them"
                                “(Veterans are) falling through the cracks,”

I can hear the infantryman saying to his section commander, Hey Sarge, I am stressed, tired and burned out. If I follow your orders, and live,  I may get hurt, and fall through VAC "cracks".

Hey Virginia, If you can't do the job, quit. Possibly VAC will hire someone who can.

Amen...

 

[Fishbone Jones]

We'd never notice the change in service. They don't do anything now. :

Just got another rejection letter that I want to cram up someone's butt hole with a cedar fencepost.

The trauma surgeon upon clinical examination writes 'Knee permanently unstable'. Some faceless, civie, dickhead in Charlottetown says 'Hmmm, can't figure why he'd say that. Claim denied'.

Fire the whole works and hire Vets to take care of Vets.

 

[Jed]

I have to wonder if we are not starting to fall victim to our own prejudices that we are accusing others of. We see it here and in the Legion threads, as well as other threads around the board and on other mediums.

What about the Afghanistan veterans? The RCL is not reaching out to our soldiers from our newest war! We need posters of people in ARID cadpat ( no offence Jim). VA and the Legion are mired in their old war and not worried about our's!

How about we just start pushing for veterans from OUR GENERATION. Not just the war in Afghanistan. While significant, that mission is only a tooth in the big gear that we've been spinning for 40 years. What about all the people that spent all that time on all those UN missions (and still are). All that time in NATO during the Cold War? What about the Reservist that rolled the truck on the weekend ex? How about the Engineer that fell off a ladder wearing OD combats.

We're, unintentionally, excluding a whole generation of our peers. Some of whom are probably looking at us and saying "Sure, fine for those guys that went to the Sandbox, but who's looking after us? They just want to sit around excluding us because we weren't there. I served and was injured, what makes them so special?"

We have to start speaking with one, large, collective voice and rid ourselves of the same anchor that has the previous generation mired in disarray and pre-extinction lethargy. We have to look after our collective mass and pave the way for the next. We have to prove as an example for our newest soldiers, sailors and airmen that are already starting the next generation of veterans, beyond our own.

We need to make Veterans organizations and department look after OUR GENERATION not OUR MISSION.

Absolutely correct! We have to keep hammering on this topic. Someday the message will sink in just as we came out of 'our decade of darkness' era. At least for a few years, anyway.

 

[Rifleman62]

As posted previously several times recceguy, this is why:

Role of the adjudicator (http://www.veteranvoice.info/archive/periodicals/Periodical_12jan.htm)

When Veterans or their primary care giver applies for VAC support based on a medical condition resulting from service, a VAC adjudicator determines the level of disability in accordance with the tables of disabilities developed by VAC. The adjudicator is not necessarily a qualified health care provider and relies upon the Merck Manuals, a series of healthcare books for medical professionals and consumers. This means that an untrained person uses a medical textbook to interpret applications and any accompanying medical documentation. What can often result is that Veterans must appeal if they disagree with the adjudicator, which may mean a long process involving VAC and VRAB, and possibly a federal court (or more).

 

[The Bread Guy]

A bit more cud to chew on here - attached are the 2012-13 Main Estimates for VAC that came out this week.  There appears to be more money earmarked overall, with some cuts in some spending due to lower numbers of certain clients being around - from the summary:

.... The Veterans Affairs is estimating budgetary expenditures of $3.6 billion in 2012–13. Of this amount, $3.5 billion requires approval by Parliament. The remaining $40.7 million represents statutory forecasts that do not require additional approval and are provided for information purposes.

A net increase of $44.8 million in planned spending is mainly due to the following:
• An increase of $60.3 million for Disability Awards and Allowances due to increases in the number of new applications, an increase in the number of existing clients with new conditions and/or reassessments, and annual inflation;
• An increase of $40.8 million for the Earnings Loss benefit due to more clients accessing benefits for longer periods, and with the enactment of the Enhanced New Veterans Charter Act;
• An increase of $1.9 million for Vocational Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Related Health Care, and Career Transition Services, due to clients remaining in the program for longer periods and increased treatment costs;
• An increase of $1.6 million primarily due to an increasing number of Canadian Forces Veterans accessing the Veterans Independence Program. This increase is partially offset by a decline in War Service clients;
• An increase of $1.5 million related to the establishment of the Community War Memorial Program;
• A net decrease of $23.8 million in the Operating budget due to the cessation of funding for ex gratia payments related to the health effects of Agent Orange use at CFB Gagetown and the transfer of IT resources for the establishment of Shared Services Canada. These decreases are partially offset by an increase of $10.5 million for the Department's Transformation Plan;
• A net decrease of $20.7 million for Other Health Purchased Services primarily due to the reduction in demand for health care benefits to eligible War Service Veterans;
• A decrease of $13.1 million in the cost of disability pensions primarily due to a decline in the number of War Service clients. This decrease is partially offset by annual inflation adjustments; and
• A decrease of $1.7 million in War Veterans Allowance due to a decrease in the number of eligible clients.

(....)

CAVEAT:  There's a federal Budget coming out 29 March, which can change any of these estimates - for better or worse.  Or it may stay the same.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Wording of the motion, according to the latest Journals:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) honour the service of Canadian military and RCMP veterans and their families by committing to not cut Veterans Affairs Canada in the upcoming budget; and (b) provide programs and services to all military and RCMP veterans and their families in a timely and comprehensive manner.

Longish debate here (31 page PDF of debate also downloadable here)

Caveat (1):  Even if the motion passes, it's not legally binding - it's just something that shows the "will" of the house.

Caveat (2):  Even though there's increases predicted in some VAC program areas, there's a budget on March 29 that could change all that.

Caveat (3):  You can always juggle figures to say "we're putting more in, overalll" while in reality cutting program funding.

 

[57Chevy]

MEDIA ADVISORY

VIGIL FOR VETERANS: Canadian Veterans gather on Parliament Hill to
peacefully demonstrate Against the impact of the Harper Government’s Austerity Budget on Veterans Affairs Canada And the availability of Benefits and Services

Access full media advisory online:
http://​www.canadianveteransadvocac​y.com/news-media/​mediaadvisory_12Mar27_Vigil​.pdf

WHEN: Thursday March 29, 2012, starting at 1:00 PM
WHERE: Ottawa, ON
1:00 -3:00 PM: National War Memorial Cenotaph, Confederate Square
3:00 PM onwards: Parliament Hill

DETAILS: The Canadian Veterans Advocacy will gather between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm at the National War Memorial Cenotaph, Confederate Square, where we will stand Vigil for Veterans. This will be a respectful gathering with absolutely NO POLITICAL DEMONSTRATIONS in the immediate vicinity of the memorial.

At approximately 3:00 pm we will proceed to Parliament Hill to be there
before 4:00 pm when the First Reading of the Budget is scheduled to take place.

INFORMATION

Michael L Blais CD
Founder and President
Tel: 905-357-3306
Email: info@canadianveteransadvoc​acy.com
Web: http://​www.canadianveteransadvocac​y.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/​groups/CdnVetsAdvocacy/

 

[GAP]

Shrinking population, technology behind 800 cuts at Veterans Affairs
Thu Apr 12 2012
Article Link

OTTAWA - A memo sent to staff at Veterans Affairs says 800 jobs will be cut over the next three years as a result of the federal budget.

But in the letter, obtained by The Canadian Press, the department's deputy minister says relatively speaking, Veterans Affairs is fortunate.

Suzanne Tinning writes the department expects to manage the cuts mostly through redeployment or attrition, as 30 per cent of the entire workforce is eligible to retire by 2016.

Tinning says the cuts are being made because the number of veterans being served is getting smaller.

She says that, coupled with improved technology, means some of the work the department does is no longer needed.

Veterans' advocates have long taken issue with the assertion their ranks are dwindling.

They note that while there are fewer vets from 20th century conflicts, there are thousands entering the system who served in Afghanistan.

And the union representing employees at the department says no matter how they are presented, jobs cut mean services lost.

At a news conference earlier this week, the president of the Union of Veterans Affairs Employees, said the cuts include at least 75 client service workers.

"They are the ones that knows what a veterans' needs is," Yvon Thauvette said.

"By losing those positions and those jobs, it has a direct impact."

The memo, called "Moving Forward" does not specify precisely which positions are on the chopping block.

A spokeswoman for Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney says the government is trying to eliminate red tape to give veterans hassle-free service.

"We will make sure we have the right people at the right locations to serve our veterans and their families," Codie Taylor said in an e-mail.

In comparison to other departments, Veterans Affairs did emerge unscathed from the budget, which cut $5.2 billion in spending overall.

The department is only seeing its coffers shrink by 1.1. per cent, while others face cuts in excess of 10 per cent of program spending.
End