A "message" from Message - Government Refuses to Help Veterans in Need
OTTAWA
– The recent cases of Canadian veterans being shut out of Ste. Anne’s veterans
hospital is just the latest example of how the Harper government is abandoning
our veterans in need, Liberal Veterans Affairs Critic Rob Oliphant said today.
“Veterans groups signed on to the 2006 New Veterans Charter with the
understanding that the government would use it to meet the needs of veterans as
they arose,” said Mr. Oliphant.
“The Charter gives Veterans Affairs
Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn the discretion to step in and ensure things like
this don’t happen. And yet he won’t even respond to inquiries made to him by
family members who are fighting to get their loved ones the health care they
deserve.”
In the last week, two Canadian veterans have come forward to
protest being shut out of Ste. Anne’s hospital, located in
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec. Funded and operated by Veterans Affairs Canada,
it is the country’s last remaining federally-controlled veterans’ facility that
serves as a national centre for the care of Canada’s heroes.
Mr.
Oliphant, who recently toured the facility, was shocked to learn that there is
currently an entire floor left vacant, while clients who should be eligible wait
for a bed. According to media reports, the hospital is negotiating to lease the
space, which contains 30 long-term care beds, to another hospital. (Montreal
Gazette, Feb. 9, 2010)
“Ste. Anne’s Hospital is in place to ensure our
veterans have priority access to care,” Mr. Oliphant said. “No veteran should
have to endure waiting while beds sit empty. If ever there was an instance where
the government should step in and use the New Veterans Charter to resolve a
matter, this is it.”
“If nothing else, the government should intervene
because it recently made a $150-million investment to modernize and expand the
facility,” Mr. Oliphant added. “After Veterans Affairs Canada made such a
significant investment, it is only fair that veterans are able to take advantage
of some improvements.”
“This government loves to bill itself as the
great defender of our men and women in uniform, but when their actions don’t
match their words, it’s just empty rhetoric. I call on the Minister to make it
immediately clear that as long as there are beds lying empty, no veteran in
Canada will be kept out,” Mr. Oliphant concluded.
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Hugh Message, Macdonald Realty 1st Pioneer, 22424 Fraser Highway, Langley, BC V3A 8N3 - 604-530-4111