Doublespeak alive and well

[Phoenix2014]

Interesting today to have the announcment that the closing of offices to serve the veterans was nailed down today and swiftly followed by a heartfelt appeal for veterans to be less reluctant to get needed help. Why does this government seem to be getting more schizophrenic every day?

Are these people honestly not capable of understanding the contradiction here, or are they simply hoping that people will believe what they say and not what they DO?

OTOH I suppose it's worked well for them so far. They've got so many people believing in some bogeyman under the bed that they are literally getting away with selling Canada down the drain; first to the Chinese with the arbitrary 30 year agreement that puts the Chinese above Canadian law, and now the European Union. Canadians are like lemmings these days, apparently convinced someone is chasing them as they voluntarilly dash to the cliff and leap off.

[Atomoa]

I laughed when Ron Cannan said that the opposition were "using vets politically" by pointing out the Conservatives are closing offices across Canada.

Less services is a bad thing for vets? That's politics!

8 vet suicides in the last 2 months - guess they were killing themselves on the NDP's/Liberals political behalf.

[GordonH]

All Federal political party's just give the same lip service that they care what happens to a Veteran's. In my opinion the way Canadian Government treats it's Veterans is shameful.
Like this one here: http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/10 ... ot-the-war

Men and women were sent to places to do a job, they come back with issues that need to be addressed. Unfortunately thats not the case so suicide becomes the only answer these men & women feel they have to relief those issues.

MP's & PM get your priorities corrected soon.

[Ken7]

I laughed when Ron Cannan said that the opposition were "using vets politically" by pointing out the Conservatives are closing offices across Canada.

Less services is a bad thing for vets? That's politics!

8 vet suicides in the last 2 months - guess they were killing themselves on the NDP's/Liberals political behalf.

The more I see of this man the less I can tolerate him. He is in it for his future pension I feel! Useless, comes to mind!

[bob vernon]

Ron Cannan can't possibly expect us to believe this. I think that he's just repeating what the PMO told him to do to deflect criticism of the office closures. The opposition parties are NOT responsible for the problems the Conservatives are facing on this issue. It is the fault of the Conservatives themselves.

There is a greater need than ever for Veterans' Affairs offices and workers in this country. We have WWII and Korean vets who are aging and old wounds are flaring up, both physical and psychological, and the Afghanistan veterans are coming home from a war like no other. There were no battle lines in Afghanistan. There was no time to be off-guard and relax. It was tension all the time because the enemy was mingling among civilians and on the streets everyday. A soldier didn't know if the 12 year old kid was on his way to school or carrying a grenade in his backpack. And the Conservatives' response........... to try to buy out people with trauma and get out of having to pay for repairing the broken soldiers.
"Just sign here and we'll give you $20,000 instead of treating you. There's really nothing wrong with ya."

Shame on you Ron Cannan for repeating this garbage. Be a man instead of a puppet.

[Glacier]

It is pretty sad that the government can't find the $3M to keep the offices open, but somehow find $66M to throw into the money sinkhole known as the Palestinian cause. Maybe they should have looked at helping our own first.

[Atomoa]

It is pretty sad that the government can't find the $3M to keep the offices open, but somehow find $66M to throw into the money sinkhole known as the Palestinian cause.

You took a shot at the Palestinians before the 10's+ of millions the Conservatives spent on signage and radio ad's, promoting their agenda?

How about holding the people responsible accountable instead of trying to doublespeak even moreso?

[twobits]

First off, I fully believe in looking after our vets but this all seems to be a bit of a knee jerk backlash. What sense is there in paying for physical locations that less than 1% of vets have ever physically attended to? Further, all the services that were available at the veterans offices are now available at the Service Canada Offices.....for the one percent who actually visited. That is in contrast to the 99% that conducted all of their contact via the phone, post, or email. What am I missing here? I think the funding to rent these buildings would be better spent on services that directly benefit the veterans.

[GordonH]

If 1 suicide is averted/prevented by having these offices open then its worth keeping them open.

[Atomoa]

What sense is there in paying for physical locations that less than 1% of vets have ever physically attended to?

1% of vets used the offices?

Cite your source.

[twobits]

If 1 suicide is averted/prevented by having these offices open then its worth keeping them open.

These people require medical attention, not a Veterans Office. They need caseworkers and referrals to the proper medical and counselling services, not dedicated Veterans Offices. Just think perhaps they were a waste of resources on real estate that is better directed at the Veterans themselves.

[twobits]

1% of vets used the offices?

Cite your source.

Sorry, actually read that stat in a Cpl of articles and can't find either of them now. I was actually disappointed when the closures first made the news but when I read those utilization stats it gave me reason to think that perhaps the physical offices were not a good use of funds for our Vets.

[NAB]

There are only something like 8 of those regional VA offices spread across the country. Likely only a small percentage of Vets are actually within range of physically being able to go anywhere near them and are the main complainers (after the staff and unions who who have jobs there and stand to lose them), ....nor are the staff in them able to visit anyone but those in reasonably close proximity to an office.

Properly set up, Service Canada Offices are in a much better physical position to improve and supply the services Vets need.

This whole uproar is "a tempest in a teapot", and the Minister responsible for VA is entirely responsible for creating it. Had it been designed and handled properly through consultation up front, and properly rolled out there would be delight on the part of most Vets instead of petty revolution.

Minister Fantino badly flubbed the introduction and handling of this issue in much the same way Gordon Campbell and Kevin Falcon flubbed the introduction of the HST in BC, by being a bully. He should resign or be fired and replaced with someone more suited to the job!

....and those VA offices should be closed, but only after the Service Canada Offices have been set up to properly assume the workload. And because they number in the hundreds rather than just 8, MORE, not less, Vet's will benefit from the change IMO.

""Service Canada officially began operations on September 14th, 2005 with a mandate to provide Canadians with a single point of access to a wide range of government services and benefits either in person, by phone, by Internet, or by mail. Service Canada's origins, however, date back to 1998 when the Government of Canada began developing an integrated citizen-centred service strategy based on detailed surveys of citizens' needs and expectations.[1] In addition, it currently has well over 600 in-person offices [2] and over 200 mobile outreach service units that operate in remote and isolated areas.
As of May 2007, Service Canada has partnered with over 14 other departments and agencies to provide access to more than 50 government programs and services. It also had established close to 500 points of service across Canada – many of which are outreach and mobile offices designed to deliver programs and services into rural and remote areas (see above).

These numbers are growing, as the ultimate goal is to provide Canadians with a single point of access to all government programs and services regardless of where they live or how they wish to interact with the government.""


Nab

[Hassel99]

I agree with the last few posters, it does not make sense to keep a physical office open that is so specialized it is rarely used. They can use the money to increase operations and physical locations of Service Canada which is able to provide the services Vets dearly need but with more bang for our buck for all Canadians.

The Minister in charge here seems to be ill equipped to deal with the public. I have seen in other media him act in a less then professional way, canceled meetings at the last moment, has a temper tantrum when challenged. He should resign, but not for making this change, but for the way he did it. As Nab said, very similar to the HST here in BC, a good idea shrouded in arrogance and perpetuated by ignorance.

[logicalview]

This whole uproar is "a tempest in a teapot", and the Minister responsible for VA is entirely responsible for creating it. Had it been designed and handled properly through consultation up front, and properly rolled out there would be delight on the part of most Vets instead of petty revolution.

I agree Nab, this wasn't handled all that well, and a positive ended up looking like a negative. I also was extremely unimpressed at the hack job by the CBC on this "story" - they spent about a minute airing the veterans and their concerns, and a further five minutes yacking between fellow leftists about the "affects" this "scandal" had on the Conservatives. That idiotic taxpayer-funded leftist network is so obsessed with its anti-Harper agenda that they are basically creating the news now, rather than reporting it.