Cuts to Veterans Affairs will harm services

Veterans and their families deserve respect

O****TTAWA– Official Opposition Veterans Affairs Critic Peter Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore) raised concerns today about the loss of 804 jobs from the Department of Veterans Affairs over the next three years.

“These cuts are reckless. Many of these positions are frontline staff,” said Stoffer. “Minister Blaney is misleading Canadians by saying that this will not have a negative impact on the people that his department is supposed to help.”

“By cutting those jobs, the government will directly affect the services to our veterans,” said Annick Papillon, Deputy Veterans Affairs Critic. “Veterans Affairs employees are needed to meet the complex needs of modern-day veterans. The men and women who served our country so faithfully deserve better.”

Stoffer warned that Veterans Affairs Canada will end up shouldering a 45 percent reduction in its staff with these cuts. He said an additional 1,295 VAC employees will soon be notified that they are no longer federal employees as the last remaining federally run veterans’ hospital (Saint-Anne-de Bellevue Hospital) is about to be transferred to the province of Quebec.

“The impacts of these cuts veterans and their families will be huge,” said Stoffer. “You simply cannot maintain the same standard of care or programs and services with fewer and fewer staff.”