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Ser50
Article Date01-09-2009
Record TYPENews
Article TOPIC 
Article TitleHarper vows action on pension disputes Reforms already proposed by Liberals Minister
Article ContentTory leader promises , bill of rights; Harper vows action on pension disputes Reforms already proposed by Liberals Minister

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Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is promising a bill of rights to improve the lives of Canada's veterans and proper recognition for aboriginal veterans whom he says were never properly compensated for their role in World War II.

""There is a historic injustice there,"" Harper said during a campaign stop at a Royal Canadian Legion hall in Victoria yesterday.

""Most aboriginal veterans received virtually none of the benefits that veterans were entitled to, and that's something we plan to act upon,"" he said.

While the other federal leaders kept a low profile, Harper was in the spotlight with another holiday week announcement.

Following up on Tuesday's election promise of a beefed up military presence on Canada's West Coast and in major cities, the Conservative leader yesterday unveiled proposals to help those who have served in the armed forces.

At the centre of his plan is a new - charged with giving veterans the benefit of the doubt - to cut through the red tape and help resolve pension and benefit disputes with the department.

""All too often we hear stories of veterans who are ignored or disrespected by the government. What a shameful way to treat the men and women who risked their lives to defend this country,"" Harper said.

He also vowed to ""fix"" the veterans' review and appeal board, which he said has been tainted by Liberal patronage. He promised appointments of ""qualified"" medical, military and veteran members.

The idea for an won the endorsement of Cliff Chadderton, a prominent veterans' leader, who chastised Liberal Albina Guarnieri for a ""disappointing"" performance as veterans affairs minister.

""We are very much in favour. (Harper) has been reading our mail because that's exactly what we've been asking for,"" said Chadderton, chairman of the National Council of Veteran Associations.

He is also chief executive officer of the War Amps.

""We have been very unhappy fighting cases tooth and nail and in some cases having to go to the Federal Court,"" Chadderton said in an interview.

He said it's ""ridiculous"" that 60 years after the war, his organization is still going to bat for veterans to get benefits that ""in our mind are clear-cut.""

""They just drag it out and drag it out and it becomes a nightmare,"" Chadderton said.

Harper also promised to rectify the ""historic inequality"" endured by aboriginal veterans who were never given the same opportunities, such as education or funding, when they returned to Canada from the war.

Guarnieri, who is running for re-election in Mississauga East-Cooksville, said the Conservatives' policy was a ""glib knock-off"" of the reforms already proposed by the Liberals.

She argued that the independent review offered by the existing appeals board has more power than the proposed .

""The job is already being done. We're not opposed to the idea of an , but it has no new role,"" she said.

""Just to add a layer without adding some new role for it would actually cause unnecessary delay,"" Guarnieri said in a telephone interview.

She suggested that electioneering was behind Harper's announcement.

""Stephen Harper hasn't asked a question on veterans' benefits in 12 years, so we're delighted that the Year of the Veteran has reached even him,"" Guarnieri said.

That view was echoed by Peter Stoffer, the NDP veterans affairs critic in the last Parliament, who accused the Tories of playing political games with veterans in the midst of the campaign.

He noted that the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois refused to agree to a ceasefire in the raucous Commons last May that would have allowed all the party leaders to travel to the Netherlands for the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II with Canadian veterans.

In the end, a public outcry and veterans' anger forced the four party leaders to make a whirlwind visit to the Netherlands with the veterans, but only after they had missed the key events.

""I still haven't forgiven the Conservatives and the Bloc,"" said Stoffer, who along with Guarnieri, joined veterans at the start of their remembrance trip.
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