OTTAWA – While most disabled veterans will see a small boost in financial support when the Trudeau government implements a new pension system in April, a new analysis shows some of the most severely injured will end up with less than under the current system.
And the financial benefits available for all under the Liberals’ pension plan will fall far short of those provided to veterans before the federal government replaced a longstanding disability pension with the current system in 2006.
Those are among the findings of a new study by Canada’s parliamentary budget officer, which comes about a month before the new Pension for Life is implemented and amid anger about the new system within the veterans’ community.
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The federal Liberals had promised during the last election to reinstate the pre-2006 pension system, but instead introduced their own version.
While the budget watchdog found that the current system and the Liberals’ Pension for Life are less generous for disabled veterans than the pre-2006 pension system, they are also far less expensive.
The government would end up paying $40 billion to provide pre-2006 pensions for all current veterans, compared to $22 billion under the current system and $25 billion under the Pension for Life.