CUTS RUN DEEPER THAN YOU KNOW

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With the instability of the markets, the decline of the job market, and the looming recession, Canadian politicians were sent home in an attempt to thwart an overthrow of the Conservative government. The Coalition of the Liberal, NDP, and the Bloc were certain that our country was being lead in the wrong direction.

The Coalition fear is also my fear: Canadians are happy to have tax cuts, but what they don't see is where these cuts are being made.

On the 23rd of January 2006, the Conservative party took over the reigns of our country with a minority government and by 01 April 2006, had begun to cut taxes and institute the promises of the new Prime Minister, Stephan Harper.

Also on that date, the Canadian Forces ordered it's Medical Doctors to stop giving information to the Department of Veterans Affairs, with the exception of the medical file. This would leave the soldier with a slim chance of proving their injuries to the DVA.

The Department of Veteran Affairs also took the opportunity to change the way they see injuries. Prior to the first of April, most injuries were set at a percentage and with time and increased loss of mobility, the percentage could be raised. But on 01 April, most injuries were down scaled and given a very low percentage based on the new tables designed to reduce costs and support tax cuts. Once again, a soldier was given a slim chance of being able to support themselves on the meager handout of a now, penny-pinching government.

Add to this an unwritten policy of "Deny Claims", which forced soldiers and veterans to fight through the severely bloated Bureau of Pension Advocates, and you quickly see why the other Political Party's were pushed to the brink of forming a Coalition Government.

This artical only deals with our soldiers and veterans. Why didn't the government cut short the Afghanistan mission if they didn't want to pay for the injuries to our soldiers instead of forcing an extention? I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know where some of the funding is being found, right in the pockets of injuried soldiers.

I don't blame the Coalition for what they tried to do. But it was good to know they had guts enough to stand up for Canadians.