Government year-end earmarks $622 million in new funds for veterans

By Tim Naumetz

Published on Feb 12, 2018


Veterans and soldiers march during the Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, on Friday, November 11, 2016. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

Of the nearly $4 billion in new spending authorities the Trudeau government is seeking as the fiscal year draws to an end, $622 million will go to funding long-term disability insurance and rehabilitation for veterans.

New spending plans the government tabled Monday also include $775 million for the Department of National Defence, with $435 million of that in support of new measures under the 2017 Liberal defence policy and $277 million to support Canada’s contributions against ISIS in the Iraq and NATO deterrence aimed at Russia in central and eastern Europe.

With a further $177 million for direct support to eligible veterans and their families, the residual cost of former conflicts and current military operations and plans account for the biggest single share of the $3.9 billion in new spending that will take total federal government expenditures to $271.6 billion for 2017-2018.

The $622 million in funding for shortfalls in a Canadian Armed Forces long-term disability insurance and vocational rehabilitation plan is directed through the federal Treasury Board Secretariat.

The plan is in deficit “due to a significantly higher number of claims, largely owing to increased awareness and recognition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and mental health,” says the government’s final spending document for the fiscal year.

“This funding will immediately resolve the shortfall … and help to support claim volumes,” the spending estimates say.

Treasury Board is also responsible for $250 million in new spending on severance pay for public service resignations and retirements for government employees who were eligible for a generous severance payout at retirement or resignation, until the Public Service Alliance and the government signed an agreement in 2016 to end the system.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development is slated for an injection of $202 million in additional funding to go toward a feminist international assistance policy the Trudeau government established as part of a new Liberal outlook on involvement abroad.

The spending estimates include a further $169 billion to help developing countries tackle climate change, as part of $2.65 billion the government promised in November, 2015.

Additional spending also includes $172 million for Public Works and Government Services Canada as it flails away at the disaster created by the federal Phoenix payroll computer system. The money will “increase capacity for client support and pay transaction processing and will support improvements along the human resources and pay processes continuum,” an explanation in the estimates document says.

Prime Minister Trudeau’s government department, the Privy Council Office, is slated for a $1.5 million funding increase.

Following substantial increases in funding for the PCO since the Liberals formed government, the increase will take total Privy Council Office expenditures to $222 million in 2017-18, nearly 100 per cent more than PCO expenditures of $123 million in 2015-16.

Most of the PCO spending increase goes toward establishment of an LGBTQ2 secretariat and another secretariat to support a working group of ministers reviewing laws and policies related to indigenous peoples, a commitment made in the government’s 2017 budget.

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, meanwhile, has no new money allotted in the supplementary estimates document.

After a slight increase in funding in 2016-17, authorized expenditures for the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying will total $5 million for 2017-18 compared to $4.3 million in actual expenditures for 2015-16.

The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner likewise did not receive an increase in funding in the supplementary estimates , after its budget rose from $5.7 million in 2015-16 to $6.9 million in 2016-17.

The Office of the Senate Ethics Officer, after its spending rose from $766,289 in 2015-16 to $1.2 million up to the current supplementary estimates, also receives no increase at the end of the fiscal year.

The office supporting a new Parliamentary watchdog for Canada’s intelligence gathering agencies, the Secretariat of the National Security and Intelligence committee of Parliamentarians, is receiving $2 million in additional funding, on top of $2.2 million in expenditures that have so far been authorized for 2017-18.

The Security and Intelligence Review Committee, which oversees the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, continues with the same budget of $7 million, after an increase to $7.1 million in 2016-17 from authorized spending of $2.8 million in 2015-16.

https://ipolitics.ca/2018/02/12/government-year-end-earmarks-622-million-new-funds-veterans/