Trudeau government promising $42M to assist thousands of disabled veterans

The Trudeau government is promising a fresh infusion of cash to help Veterans Affairs Canada deal with a growing backlog of applications for services from thousands of wounded warriors.

The new money, included in this week’s federal budget, amounts to $42 million over two years and is specifically earmarked to speed up the delivery of services to disabled veterans.

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The injection of additional funds follows revelations that Veterans Affairs Canada had a backlog of 29,000 applications for disability benefits at the end of November – a nearly 50 per cent increase over the previous eight months.

But the government won’t say exactly how the money will be used or why the increase has been limited to two years, given that demand for the department’s services is expected to continue growing for the foreseeable future.

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The union representing Veterans Affairs workers says the money will help fix some of the problems, but that much more is needed to both undo years of Conservative-era cuts and to address future demand.

The Union of Veterans Employees says the department remains short hundreds of workers compared to before those cuts, and staff will face even more pressure when the Liberals’ new disability pension-for-life measure comes into force next year.