I am demanding the Federal Government stop clawing back soldiers’ danger pay. Before soldiers are sent on future missions, this policy decision needs to be resolved.
Liberals have no problem borrowing billions to give away to other countries for global warming, but they undervalue the women and men serving in uniform.
When will the defence minister stop funding the Prime Minister’s out-of-control spending on the backs of our troops?
They should know better how important danger pay is, not just to our brave women and men in uniform, but to their families back home as well.
On March 9, the Conservative Party, after months of giving the Prime Minister the opportunity to do the right thing, brought to the attention of Canadians the most recent example of how the Liberal Party devalues the dangers inherent in missions like the one we debated Monday night.
The decision to claw back the danger pay of soldiers on the front line in the war against international terrorism has soldiers asking me if their pay will be cut by not receiving the proper recognition of being in a hot zone.
I stated this in the House of Commons during the Parliamentary debate on extending OPERATION UNIFIER, Canada’s current mission to Ukraine.
Soldiers remember being sent to Afghanistan without the proper uniforms.
Soldiers remember their comrades from the conflict in Afghanistan who were killed or injured by a roadside bomb because the Liberal Party played politics with air support when it cancelled the helicopter contract.
In fact, history repeats itself with the same type of politics being played with the fighter jet replacement.
Without the proper strategic airlift to get soldiers off the roads, lives were needlessly sacrificed.
“Soldiers are asking what else the Liberals will take away besides their danger pay? What happens when the injured soldier comes home?
As the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on National Defence, I am pleased to confirm that through the defence committee, I have been pushing the government to accept the recommendations of the National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman, Gary Walbourne, in the report presented last fall to the Minister of National Defence, “Simplifying the Service Delivery Model for Medically Releasing Members of the Canadian Armed Forces”.
Specifically, soldiers need to know that if they are injured and no longer meet the universality of service requirement, the support is there. What must take place is no currently serving member of the Canadian Armed Forces is medically released without all services and benefits in place.
The Federal Government has an obligation to provide the proper equipment and support before and after the missions it asks soldiers to perform.