Loyalty Oaths and Litmus Tests

A recent guest has been claiming that Leftists hate "the troops" because we want to see the Geneva Conventions respected. As proof of the hatred for "the troops" [in quotations because jingoists use the term in a thoughtless, knee-jerk fashion] felt by the NDP and the Liberal Party of Canada, my guest refers to the "fact" that all they want to talk about are possible abuses of prisoners in Afghanistan, and not at all about the conditions that "the troops" have to live and work under.

I'm not going to get into a stupid pissing contest about which side "supports the troops" more. I'm not going to get into that nonsensical framing of issues whereby contrary opinions are regarded as treasonous, where questioning of foreign policy becomes shitting all over "the troops."

Just to refute the claim that all (in this case) the NDP and the Liberals have never concerned themselves with our soldiers other than to condemn them for alleged abuses in Afghanistan, I provide this statement from the House of Commons:

There are tremendous problems in our country for veterans and their families, not just for the veterans of World War I, World War II, Korea, the gulf war and Afghanistan, but also for our modern day veterans, those who served during peacekeeping times and the cold war. An awful lot of them, almost 4,000 to be exact, have a problem with what is called the SISIP deduction. This was something that we in the NDP had in our veterans first motion, which was adopted by the three opposition parties in the House of Commons. Unfortunately, the Conservatives voted against it at that time.

We should remember what the Prime Minister said when he was in opposition. He said that when motions are passed by the House of Commons, that should bring the direction from government to the forefront. Unfortunately, not only did the Conservatives vote against our motion, but the budget completely ignored that aspect of the motion. When there is a $14.2 billion surplus and they are not going to help disabled veterans now, when do they plan on doing it?

There is a gentlemen in my riding by the name of Mr. Dennis Manuge, who has just started a class action lawsuit with a legal team, and with members of that lawsuit right across this country, to fight the government over the SISIP deduction. Many of our injured soldiers are now facing the choice of losing their homes and equity and being
forced into rental accommodations that, in some cases, are of a poorer standard.
These are people who volunteered to serve their country and unfortunately were
injured in the line of duty. What is being said to them? They are being told
that maybe we will get around to thinking about helping them.

When the government has a $14.2 billion surplus over and above moneys required for the day to day operations of government, one would assume that of all governments, this government, a government that reportedly likes to support the troops, would have looked at this issue very seriously, and if it did not want to accept the recommendations from the NDP then it could at least accept the recommendations from the DND ombudsmen.

Two of those ombudsmen have said that the SISIP deduction has to go and that with a $290 million investment this problem will be fixed. That amount is 1.8% of the
recently announced $14.2 billion surplus. One would think that in its heart of hearts the government would have come up with $290 million, not only honouring the motion passed by the House of Common but accepting the recommendations of two ombudsmen.

Just recently, Mr. Côté, the DND ombudsman, again wrote a letter mentioning that recommendation to the government. It is still being ignored by the government. For the life of me, I cannot understand this in view of the heightened awareness of our troops, those bravely serving in Afghanistan and around the world and those who have been injured and are coming home. Our troops went through one war. They should not have to go through another one when they get back home.