When It Comes To Helping Veterans, Laurie Hawn Is A Legend In His Own Mind, MP Says
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Editor’s Note: On Feb. 12, Defence Watch published comments from Conservative MP Laurie Hawn on the SISIP clawback issue, as well as other contentious veterans issues. He noted that the New Veterans Charter (NVC) is an improvement. The material was from a larger email Mr. Hawn sent to a veteran. Here is what Mr. Hawn wrote:
“The whole package of benefits under the NVC is an improvement over the old Pension Act and even Peter Stoffer admits that. The supposed issues from Bill C-201 and C-215 were and are bogus. Manuge, etc. won on the SISIP clawback issue, because I and others worked hard to convince the PM to not appeal; even though the courts were ruling on emotion and not the law. We have done more and we will continue to do more with people of good faith.”
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……so now NDP MP Peter Stoffer responds to that:
By Peter Stoffer Defence Watch Guest Writer
Conservative MP Laurie Hawn must think he is a legend in his own mind to suggest that the veterans SISIP clawback issue was resolved because “he worked hard to convince the PM to not appeal; even though the courts were ruling on emotion and not the law.”
How incredibly insulting his comments are to the veterans involved in this class action lawsuit, the legal team of McInnes Cooper, and the Honourable Mr. Justice Robert Barnes, the Federal Court judge who ruled on this case.
Dennis Manuge, a constituent of my riding, was forced to launch this class action lawsuit in 2007 because of federal government inaction. He and many other veterans fought for over five years to end the unjust SISIP reduction of disability pensions.
This Conservative government, of which Mr. Hawn is a part of, was repeatedly urged to resolve this issue and did not act. As an example, in 2007, the National Defence and Canadian Forces Ombudsman described the issue as one of “fundamental unfairness” and called on the federal government to resolve these unfair deductions of veterans’ disability benefits.
Further, Parliament voted to resolve this issue in 2006 when my motion passed in the House of Commons that called on the government to “immediately eliminate the unfair reduction of veterans’ disability pension benefits from their SISIP benefits.” Again, this Conservative government did not act.
Let me be very clear – Laurie Hawn and the Conservative government did not take action to resolve these injured veterans’ concerns until the court ruling by Justice Barnes in 2012. Sadly, I think that had Dennis Manuge and injured veterans’ not launched a class-action lawsuit against the federal government, this issue would remain unresolved.
I recall the words of a former Conservative Veterans Affairs Minister who testified in front of a Senate Standing Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs in 2008 and said this with respect to the SISIP issue, “If I attempted to make anyone believe that we will be changing it, I would not be telling the truth.”
For well over a decade, the Conservative and Liberal governments failed to act on this injustice. For further proof, please refer to the chronology of events regarding the Service Income Security Insurance Plan and its Unfair Deductions from Former Canadian Forces Members
Mr. Hawn is also off base to suggest that Bill C-201 and C-215 “were and are bogus.” These two bills aimed to remove the deduction for Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits that occurs at age 65 (or earlier if disabled) from military and RCMP pensioners. Over 110,000 individuals supported this bill in a campaign coordinated by CF and RCMP veterans.
Major veterans organizations also supported the initiative including the Royal Canadian Legion (approx. 320,000 members), the Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada, and the Royal Canadian Air Force Association in Canada, as well as elected members of the Yukon and Nova Scotia legislature. Mr. Hawn should ask these veterans if they think this issue was “bogus.”
As a last comment, if Mr. Hawn indeed has these incredible powers to resolve veterans issues, perhaps he can ‘convince the PM’ to forgo the federal government’s appeal of the Equitas class action lawsuit on the New Veterans Charter and resolve the class action lawsuit by RCMP veterans seeking an end to the unfair reduction of their disability benefits.
Peter Stoffer is the Official Opposition Critic for Veterans Affairs and the MP for Sackville-Eastern Shore, Nova Scotia.
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