On March 7, LaVar Payne, Conservative MP for the Alberta riding of Medicine Hat, penned an opinion piece in the Medicine Hat News boasting about all the great things the Conservatives are doing for veterans. The opinion piece comes more than six weeks after the offices closed. PSAC Prairies Regional Executive Vice-President Marianne Hladun responded to the letter to set the record straight. The letter was submitted to the Medicine Hat News and was published on March 18.
LaVar Payne’s opinion piece is further proof that, to the Conservatives, “setting the record straight” is synonymous with deflecting the blame, muddling the issue and fabricating the truth.
It certainly is a welcome change to see a Conservative MP acknowledge our veterans and the services they rely on––even if it took him the better part of six months to do so. Unfortunately, it’s obvious Mr. Payne is simply regurgitating his briefing document on this issue, rather than getting the real story directly from veterans.
This isn’t surprising. The Conservatives made the unilateral decision to close nine Veterans Affairs offices without any input from stakeholders, especially veterans who rely on and deserve these face-to-face services.
From our interactions with veterans over the past several months, we’ve learned just how important these services are to veterans and their spouses. And we’ve heard the hardships they are already facing trying to get the same level of care and service since the offices closed.
Service Canada is already so understaffed that six-month backlogs in EI and CPP claim processing are simply par for the course. Now the department expects employees to field veterans’ inquiries with inadequate training and limited experience dealing with the complex and sensitive issues common among veterans.
Mr. Payne’s distorted view that PSAC tricked veterans is not only patently false, it’s an outright insult to our veterans who are more than capable of forming their own opinions and speaking their own minds. Just ask any one of the thousands of veterans that protested these closures––many who formerly identified as Conservative and don’t even support unions.
I hope when local veterans take Mr. Payne up on his open door offer, he’ll do more for them than simply hide behind form letters and government talking points. Maybe he could start by offering a ride to the closest Veterans Affairs office in Regina.
Marianne Hladun
Regional Executive Vice-President,
Public Service Alliance of Canada, Prairies