Now, I am by no means a military supporter - in fact, I strongly oppose Canada's involvement in nearly every war they've been involved in, including out military presence in Afghanistan. However; I, for one, am thoroughly disappointed with our federal government at the moment, and the reason is predominantly military related.
It's not often that I pick up three newspapers, go to the local coffee shop, read all three and look for blog topics - in fact, this is the first time I've done it (it's fun, btw, you should give it a try). Unfortunately, today was the day I decided to try it. My first paper was the Toronto Star. I didn't get passed the first page before outrage struck.
The headline reads 'This Must Stop.'
Intriguing, to say the least. Well, to me, it is. Was. Whatever. The point is. I started reading the article. Apparently, the Canadian government would prefer our soldiers dead to injured - as paying out disability is more costly than the one time payment they give to families of the deceased (rest in peace, god bless, and all of that). According to this article, under the new system, injured soldiers are paid a $250,000 lump sum, rather than the way it was done previously, with a $4000 per month settlement. Let me break this down real quick. Let's say that a soldier lives for 40 years after that lump sum is paid. Before this new system, they'd have been paid (approximately) $1,920,000, rather than the lump of $250,000. That's nearly eight times the amount they're currently getting. While the nearly 2 million dollar sum I've just illustrated is quite a lot of money, let me point out that without these soldiers, injured and otherwise, our country would be very different.
We would not have helped in either of the world wars - we would not have gained the reputation of a force to be reckoned with. We would not have patriated from Britain. We would not have any of the freedoms we now hold dear.
How strange that our Conservative Government sees penny pinching as more important than any of that. Every single soldier is important - every single one deserves compensation.
Sorry, every single one deserves proper compensation. I don't know about you, but I'll be writing a letter to my MP this week - and I don't even have any soldiers in my immediate family.
Some things are more important than money. This is one of them.
