Veterans Affairs Documents Suggest Intent To Penny-Pinch Injured Soldiers

Canada's Department of Veterans Affairs is in hot water again over its provision of benefits for injured Canadian soldiers.

A trove of leaked internal Veterans Affairs documents suggests bureaucrats knew from the beginning that a new system of benefits would mean less cash for injured soldiers with one analysis projecting savings of up to $40 million per year.

Another analysis, contained among 3,500 pages obtained by The Canadian Press, raised concern that some disabled veterans might be forced back to work or to take up part-time jobs to supplement their income.

The projections were made as the army faced the heaviest combat since the Korean War and proved wildly inaccurate. The outgoing veterans ombudsman said it justifies his claim that the federal government was prepared from the outset to penny-pinch injured soldiers.

Pat Stogran said the documents make a mockery of recent Conservative government promises to inject more the $2 billion into veterans benefit. It’s cash, he said, that should have been there all along.

"They knew full well they were going to saving money on this," said Stogran, whose three-year term ends on Remembrance Day. The government told him last summer he wouldn’t be re-appointed.

By: Shelldrake