Stephen Fuhr: Stephen Harper’s speeches ring empty, especially on Remembrance Day

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      You can bet our prime minister will proudly stoke the fires of Canadian military achievement when he speaks during Remembrance Day ceremonies this year.

      And for every one of his platitudes about Canada being a great military nation, there will be a Canadian veteran long since abandoned by Stephen Harper’s failed government policies.

      Vets in this country don’t complain when asked to do more with less, they serve proudly. We didn’t run and hide when we landed in Afghanistan with the wrong coloured uniforms. When the government purchased four second-hand submarines from Britain that needed $200 million worth of repairs, and they still didn’t work, we simply rolled up our sleeves and kept plugging the leaks. When a 50-year-old Sea King helicopter was forced to land in a Nova Scotia golf course last month, we just towed it back to base and fixed it.

      Yet, our veterans can’t sit idly by when the government refuses to meet their needs when they return home. It has taken lawsuits, public demonstrations and—tragically—suicides to reinforce just how badly Harper’s Conservatives have handled Veterans’ Affairs. Even then, it’s still not clear if the Cons are getting the message.

      “It is beyond my comprehension,” Patrick Stogran, Canada’s first veterans ombudsman, said in 2010, “how the system could knowingly deny so many of our veterans the services and benefits that the people and the Government of Canada recognized a long, long time ago as being their obligation to provide.”

      When I retired from the Royal Canadian Air Force in 2009, I was lucky. My 20-year military career was filled with personal and professional highs. I did not return from duty with post-traumatic stress like so many Canadian soldiers who served in Afghanistan. I did not leave behind a widow battling red tape to get the benefits she deserves. I’m not an aging veteran forced to navigate a convoluted website because my local Veterans’ Affairs office has closed.

      The Conservatives can tout changes to the Veterans’ Charter all they want, but soldiers that need support are screaming that they aren’t getting the help they need. Harper says caring for seriously injured veterans, supporting their families and improving how it delivers services are the three pillars to improved Veterans’ Affairs.

      “I submit publicly and for the record that the Veterans’ Charter failed us on all three counts,” Thomas MacEachern told CTV News last year.

      MacEachern knows all too well how badly the Conservatives treat vets. His wife, Leona, committed suicide Christmas Day last year. Suffering from PTSD, the 20-year military veteran drove headlong into a tractor trailer on an Alberta highway.

      The Conservatives will tell you they’re listening and improving the Veterans’ Charter. They’ll talk about payment options for wounded vets and improved service delivery. What they don’t like to talk about is class-action lawsuits. A group of six wounded Canadians who served in Afghanistan is suing the government. They say when the government started giving wounded vets lump-sum payments instead of lifetime benefits it robbed them of their future safety and security.

      The vets are quick to remind our government of the “social covenant” that dates back 100 years. It was during the First World War that former prime minister Sir Robert Borden pledged to care for Canada’s veterans.

      In their legal defence, according to CBC News, the Conservatives say Borden’s political speeches were never meant to create binding contracts. Amazing, isn’t it? Harper loves to wax poetically from his soap box about Conservatives supporting the Canadian military, but ignores everyone else.

      There’s an easy way to fix this. Harper and his Conservative government must restore funding to Veterans’ Affairs. There’s no need to study the issue or to appoint anymore expert panels. He just needs to write a cheque and put money where his mouth is.

      Maj. Stephen Fuhr (retired) served 20 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was flying a CF-18 in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. He is now Liberal candidate in the federal riding of Kelowna-Lake Country.

      Comments

      3 Comments

      dj mack

      Nov 10, 2014 at 2:17pm

      I send my heartfelt agreement with Fuhr. Support our Veterans. I have been disgusted with how Harper has been attempting to change the narrative of the country, from his jingoistic presentation of the war of 1812, to the changes of the citizenship handbook, this is a Canada I do not recognize. Squandering our heritage of the moral authority as a peacekeeping nation is almost as bad as not supporting Veterans. Put some density into your speeches so that we might really understand both poles of Remembrance Day: Lest we forget and Never Again. The latter might is best lived through action by showing how we care as a people.

      AC

      Nov 11, 2014 at 11:09am

      Harper's government has and continues to unravel positive qualities that have endeared us internationally - the value of peace being one. The real enemy hurting Canada isn't an external one. Military deployments these days are engineered for Harper votes and the respect given to those who serve superficial.

      As for those conscripted to fight many decades ago, surely they were tax payers before and after service. Where did all that money go that should've financed the nation's support to them upon their return? Sad financial mismanagement of many governments.

      Dianne Varga

      Nov 12, 2014 at 1:52pm

      If we quit hopping around from Muslim country to Muslim country with our misguided friends, the American belligerents, we could take a huge hunk of Defence spending (which was $22.6 bn in 2012) and put it towards Veteran's Affairs. While we're at it, Mr. Fuhr, what do you think about standing for a Peace Tax Fund, "so that those of us who are opposed to the concept that stronger armies bring a swifter peace may designate, for the sake of our consciences, our hard-earned tax dollars toward more peaceful enterprises" (http://www.consciencecanada.ca/?p=596)? Is that something you could get behind?

      Dianne Varga
      Kelowna, BC