Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

Veterans Affairs fiscal faux-pas leads to hardship and hurt – the worst suffered by retirees in the lowest ranks, along with the disabled who had little other income


Anatomy of a blunder: How Veterans Affairs quietly buried a $165M accounting error.  The department found and corrected the error in 2010 - but made no efforts to compensate veterans

Murray Brewster ~~ CBC News ~~ Jan 11, 2019

It was an incredibly simple (and incredibly daft) mistake — and it led to a $165 million federal fiscal faux-pas. In 2001, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien made what appeared to be an innocuous change to federal tax forms. It separated federal and provincial tax exemptions, shuffling the basic personal tax credit from one part of the document to another.

Staff at Veterans Affairs, who administer disability awards and pensions, did not pick up on the modification to the tax law for several years, and ended up short-changing former soldiers — most of them elderly — who received disability pensions and awards benefits.

It was a mistake that cascaded, over time, into a
whopping, multi-million-dollar fiscal mess...


CLICK HERE to read the full story


This was not a blunder or an ‘accounting error’ – it was a failure to carry out responsible stewardship of our commitments to our military personnel, and a deliberate effort to hide malfeasance.  While Veterans Affairs thought no one would notice, on average, military pensioners and disabled persons lost $5.62 per person per month.

NOW ... you might not think that's a lot, but let’s do the math: 


$5.62 x 12 months = $67.40 / year x 9 years = $606.62
Multiply that by 272,000 individuals and you have ... $165,000,000. 

That’s right.  One hundred and sixty-five MILLION dollars!

Averages are deceptive as the worst hardship, and hurt, was suffered by the lowest ranks (lowest paid) retirees ... and the disabled who had little other income. There appear to be no standard of competence for our federal civil service ... and the lack of ethics and remorse is unacceptable.  These people appear immune to discipline for error, no matter how many people are hurt as a result.

Department managers are paid to supervise, and pay levels are commensurate with the numbers of employees supervised. When benefit calculations are based on taxation, any change to tax law requires scrutiny to establish how benefits are affected.

No one bothered to see how tax code changes affected pensions and disability benefits. That is a management responsibility ... and it was a management failure.
It seems  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is able to shed tears, almost
  on command, for all kinds of things ... but not for Canada’s veterans

The only reason we have not seen a heartfelt apology, complete with requisite tears, is that the government is currently in court trying to justify arbitrary reductions in pensions ... and injury benefits to military personnel. 

The governments record on military matters and treatment of military personnel are disgusting.  


John Feldsted
Political Consultant & Strategist
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Budget 2027: After a Decade of Decline, NDP Budget Delivers an Assault on Seniors, Working Families, and Small Businesses

Peter Milobar, BC Conservative Finance Critic, condemned the NDP government’s latest budget as the result of a decade of decline that has left British Columbians broke, unsafe, and paying more for less.   “After ten years of NDP mismanagement, this budget is an assault on seniors, working families, and the small businesses that drive our economy,” said Milobar. “The NDP have turned their back on the people working hardest to make ends meet and the seniors who built this province.” Milobar pointed to a new $1.1 billion annual income tax increase and warned that the government is piling new costs onto households already struggling with affordability.   “This government keeps asking British Columbians for more, while delivering less,” Milobar said. “The question people are asking is simple: Where has all the money gone?” Milobar noted that BC has gone from a surplus in the first year of NDP government to a projected deficit of more than $13 billion this year, while prov...
Post a Comment
Read more

WARD STAMER -- Those are REAL forestry numbers, not just made-up numbers

The following is a condensed version of remarks Kamloops – North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer’s made, regarding Forestry, in the BC Legislature, on Tuesday afternoon (02/24/2026)   Let’s talk a little bit, when we talk about Budget 2026, about the forest industry, which is near and dear to my heart. Forestry remains one of British Columbia’s foundational industries. It’s a pillar that built this province. Entire communities depend upon it. Interior towns, northern communities, Vancouver Island regions, the Kootenays, the Lower Mainland, with manufacturing facilities in Surrey and Maple Ridge, just to name a few — everywhere in BC is touched by forestry. One word that was not mentioned in Budget 2026 was forestry. That’s a shame, an incredible shame. It wasn’t an oversight – it was intentional. This government has driven forestry into the ground .... INTO THE GROUND! We can talk a little bit about some of the initiatives that this government has brought forth, to try to resurrect ...
Post a Comment
Read more

FORSETH -- Before anyone gets excited about one poll showing a candidate with a 25 percent lead, and 44 percent support overall, let’s give it a few more weeks

Is this based in reality -- how accurate are the numbers? In the past couple of weeks a couple of candidates, for the leadership of the BC Conservative Party, have been presenting polling results that they lead the pack – one even going so far as to say they have a lock on 44% of those who will be voting, and a twenty-five percent lead over the individual ranked second. I am going to say that this one, from Kerry-Lynne Findlay, is highly suspect. First of all the company conducting the poll, ERG National Research, is not a Member of Industry Bodies (the Canadian Research Insights Council), meaning they do not adhere to established industry standards for research, such as transparency, privacy, and methodological rigor. AI Overview states that ... based on alerts from the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC) and reports, ERG National Research should be treated with extreme caution regarding its reliability, and legitimacy, in conducting political polling. Before I even read this in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more