Ottawa tinkers with veterans' disability benefits as former soldiers prepare for a fight

The young union soldier budget, if it passes, testament convert the way of life disability benefits are calculated — and that has the country’s military veterans worried that they’ll face a less generous system in the future.

The fiscal plan, tabled by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Nov. 4, proposes to modify the indexing formula so that it is calculated solely on the basis of the consumer price index (CPI), or cost of living.

The change would come into effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

Up until this point, the benefit’s annual increase has been calculated using either the CPI or the average of a basket of public service salaries, whichever is greater. It is an important, generous distinction in the system, which veterans successfully lobbied for in the 1980s.

Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government will have to amend legislation in order to take the system back to what it was more than 40 years ago.

Veterans Affairs Minister Jill McKnight acknowledged on Tuesday, following the annual Remembrance Day service in Ottawa, that changes are on the way.

She emphasized that the government is not withdrawing or cancelling any benefits, just realigning the system to ensure “consistency."

McKnight was repeatedly asked whether that means veterans will receive less than they might have under the current either/or system of benefit increases.

The minister said it’s difficult to know.

“Each individual veteran has unique experiences, time and service release, so it'll depend on each individual circumstance,” said McKnight, who also emphasized the budget’s investment of more than $180 million in improving the benefits delivery system.

Veterans advocates, however, aren’t as positive in their assessment.

Over the longer term, said Sean Bruyea, a former Canadian Forces captain and intelligence officer, the change will make a dramatic difference in how veterans with disabilities are compensated for their sacrifice to Canada.

Bruyea, who advocates for the rights of disabled veterans, said since January 2005, the CPI has increased about 52 per cent, but veteran disability pensions have risen 70 per cent in line with federal public service salaries.

The difference for individuals over time could amount to thousands of dollars, he said.

“That calculation affects the whole gamut of disability benefits for veterans,” Bruyea said. “So it will have a widespread impact on veterans."

Bruce Moncur, a former corporal who was wounded in Afghanistan in 2006, said it appears the federal government is poised to begin nickel-and-diming veterans once again.

He pointed to the New Veterans Charter (NVC), which, when enacted almost 20 years ago, recalculated benefits using a complex system that saw some injured soldiers paid less in disability benefits than those who had been hurt before the new system took effect.

The NVC was a sore political point for then-prime minister Stephen Harper's government, which was forced to make a series of costly adjustments. The lingering bitterness among former soldiers contributed to a swing in veterans' votes away from the Conservatives toward the Liberals in 2015.

“I've already had the rug pulled out for me once before. I'd prefer not to have it done again,” Moncur said, referring to the political battles over the NVC.

“You felt like you were fighting a bureaucratic insurance company. Eventually, I would say, without exaggeration, that most of my PTSD was not for fighting for my country but fighting my country."

Moncur, noting how the federal government is pouring billions of dollars into buying new military equipment and spending millions to attract new recruits, said it’s going to take more than signing bonuses and new kits to convince people they’re making the right choice to sign up and put on a military uniform.

Senior reporter, defence and security

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