November 21st, 11:50 a.m.
Canadian Forces Superannuation Act
http://openparliament.ca/hansards/2419/8/----------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-215, which, earlier today, I
had the honour of seconding.
The bill would end pension clawbacks from our military and RCMP veterans and
from those with significant disabilities. The bill in its first incarnation
was introduced by the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore in 2005 and he has
re-introduced this bill in each of the Parliaments since then. I thank him
for doing that. It has been part of the member's work that he has taken on
this House as being a champion for veterans in all areas. I thank him and
congratulate him for the work that he has done.
The members on the other side like to say that there has been some kind of
vacuum on this bill. I just want to point out that its previous incarnation,
which came forward for its first debate in March 2009 and then came back in
May, was passed by the House of Commons by of a vote of, I believe, 139 to
129. It then went off to committee where there was a toing and froing and
machinations. It came back to the House without what is called a royal
recommendation.
Stripping away all those technicalities, what it means is that the
government did not support the bill. It argued that it was necessary to
expend public funds and, therefore, the government would not let it proceed
further.
I must say at this point that, when the Conservatives took over government
from the Liberals, I thought there would be one thing that they would be
better on than the Liberals have ever been and I thought that would be on
the treatment of the military and veterans. On some fronts, yes, it is true
that there have been some improvements, but this case is one, unfortunately,
where the veterans have not received the fair treatment that I thought a
Conservative government would have given them.
I will not review the list of things that I see right now that are a crisis
for veterans but I do need to mention what is taking place right now with
cuts to Veterans Affairs. The government has proposed taking $223 million
away from the Department of Veterans Affairs and says that somehow this will
not impact services for veterans. It is very hard to see how that could
possibly happen.
On this side of the House, the NDP has called for exempting Veterans Affairs
from the government's program review and to maintain the spending on those
who served our country so well for so many years.
Now, rather than continue down this road talking about the deficiencies in
treatment of veterans, I would like to treat this as an opportunity for all
of us to do better by veterans, both military and RCMP. We need to remember
that we are talking about those who have served more than 20 years for their
country.
This brings us to one of those myths, the myth about the number of people
affected by this bill. It is not hundreds of thousands as the other side
likes to imply. It is not that total of more than 700,000 retired military
and RCMP veterans. It applies only to the 96,000 who retired with over 20
years of service and, of course, to future retirees who will then have 25
years of service.
The bill is not proposed to be retroactive, which leads to the related myth
about costs. At one point, even the government admitted that the real cost
would be about $100 million a year. The member for Sackville—Eastern Shore
has certainly shown us how this could be a revenue neutral process. Chief
among those measures to ensure that would be true is to stop charging the
premiums for unemployment insurance, which members of the military and the
RCMP could never collect, and shift those premiums over to cover the cost of
this fair treatment for veterans with such long service.
The second point would be to focus on the net cost to government. Certainly,
by increasing pension payments, this would lead to lower costs for
governments in many other areas. Both federal and province governments would
save money by paying these extra pension benefits for which members of the
armed services and the RCMP have already paid through deductions off their
paycheques.
When the government says that it would be necessary to raise contributions
to cover future costs, I am not convinced. The facts say otherwise. And,
when I talk to veterans in my riding, they are not convinced.
I will now talk about some of the many veterans from whom I have heard. My
friend, Doug Grant, is the manager of the Esquimalt Legion Dockyard Branch
No. 172. Doug gave me permission to tell a little bit of his story. He
started his story by asking me what I was doing in 1962 when he was serving
in the Canadian navy in the Caribbean as part of the Cuban missile crisis
that threatened armed confrontation and even nuclear war.
I stopped Mr. Grant to point out that I was in elementary school. However,
since that time I have studied Canadian history and I have also been a
participant in international human rights missions. I know from the field,
both in East Timor and Afghanistan, the great dangers and sacrifices that
the members of our military put forward on our behalf.
I know that many veterans in my riding, who continue to write to me and call
for an end to this cutback, are not asking for something they do not
deserve, they are not asking for something they have not earned and they are
not even asking for something for which they have not paid.
I will read one last quote. I will not name this resident because I do not
have his permission. He said, “As a resident of Colwood and a current
serving member of the Royal Canadian Navy, I ask that you support Bill
C-215. ... And now after contributing independently to both my
superannuation and CPP for 34 years, I will have both reduced to the
equivalent of my military pension upon turning 65. I know the country has
huge financial demands but I wish the reigning government would respect
their members of the military and RCMP and not use them like a piggy bank
and not try to ignore the surplus in their pension funds”.
I call on members of all parties in the House, because this is a private
member's bill, to vote their conscience and vote in favour of those who have
given so much service to our country, more than 20 years in the military and
the RCMP, correct this injustice and immediately end this clawback to their
pensions.
CKA Moderator 
CKA Uber 
