Trudeau government cuts $1.8 billion in pension funding to disabled Canadian veterans

According to a new article in the Globe and Mail by Gloria Galloway, the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau has managed to provide a net savings of $1.8 billion in the next four years, by reducing payouts to disabled veterans.

This is a stark turnaround for the Trudeau team, given that during the 2015 campaign, they pledged to bring back the ‘Pension For Life’.

The ‘Pension For Life’ program was fairly popular with veterans before being replaced under the Harper government, for a less costly program, which many actively spoke out against.

Since the campaign and the Liberal government's subsequent turnaround, veterans' associations have described the governments halfway solution as a "betrayal of the commitment to Canada's veterans' community."

This seemingly becomes even more notable when you consider that the Liberal government has made near to no attempts to balance the budget in other areas, yet when it comes to the military ... I suppose they are asking for far too much.

This isn't surprising though when you consider that the Trudeau government aims for "evidence-based" policy, which seems to largely distillable down to a "give the voters what they want" style of left-wing populism.

Sadly, for our men and woman in uniform, the governments internal polling place issues such as climate change and healthcare, far ahead of national defence.

While some readers may look at this response and shower praise onto the federal government, I think many more question the overall vision and capacity for leadership, when long-term needs such as national defence are completely forgotten.

At the end of the day, the role of the government is to actively invest in all avenues that the nation requires respectfully, not constantly switch between competing interests as defined by polls.

How problematic is this lack of vision?

While the federal government has attempted to keep its arms open to a plethora of competing special interests, it has almost unanimously failed to provide an actual vision for leading Canada into the future.

The constant addition of one boutique tax-credit, or another industry wide-exemption for the carbon tax simply do not constitute an actual path forward for Canada in the coming years.

This is perhaps, why it is not surprising to see reports with headlines such as Canada's 'unsustainable' GDP growth is the result of short-term planning.

This lack of vision is likely due to the intense overreach of the Trudeau government, which seems willing to thinly spread its resources in an attempt to regulate everything to death, and then bail out every industry in the search for its next photo-op opportunity.

At some point, they will have to understand they cannot lead on every file, and return to running the basic functions of government, by pushing forward workable policy in key areas such as national defence, energy, and the nations rapidly spiralling deficit.

What do you think? Join the conversation by commenting below!