Trail Times Thursday, October 11, 2012
www.trailtimes.ca A5
NATIONAL Ruling ends clawback on veteran benefits THE CANADIAN PRESS
Union claims better training required to make meat safe THE CANADIAN PRESS BROOKS, Alta. - The union for workers at an Alberta beef packer shut down over E. coli concerns says better training and work conditions are required to ensure meat is safe. Doug O’Halloran, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, says the speed of the processing line at the XL Foods plant in Brooks is too fast. He says that has led to shorter
times in which to make sure equipment and meat is clean. O’Halloran says the plant’s increasing reliance on temporary foreign workers is also a problem. He says the company has not worked with the union to ensure the workers are properly trained and know what their rights are. The union says whistleblower protection is important for the workers who are afraid to speak out.
QUEBEC
Liberals respond to allegations THE CANADIAN PRESS MONTREAL Rocked by allegations of illegal financing, the Quebec Liberals mounted a counterattack in defence of their party’s reputation Wednesday. The most aggressive response came from a party member who questioned the credibility of the star witness at Quebec’s corruption inquiry. David Whissell was among several prominent Liberals who responded to the latest testimony at the inquiry but he was the only one to criticize the key witness. Whissell, an ex-cabinet minister, took direct aim at Lino Zambito, the former construction boss whose testimony has shaken Quebec’s political and business class. Whissell not only denied the claim that a member of his entour-
age solicited an illegal $50,000 cash donation from Zambito - an allegation he called unrelated to reality. He also questioned Zambito’s credibility after his own testimony in recent days implicated him in collusion and bid-rigging schemes. “I want to remind you that Mr. Zambito is someone who has
been arrested, who is charged with crimes, who is seen on video giving money to the Mafia, who pressured municipal officials,� Whissell told The Canadian Press in a telephone interview. “He’s someone who is a criminal and I think we’re too easily taking his words to be the truth.�
Tories cut services but boost advertising THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA - The Conservative government has approved tens of millions of dollars in “economic action plan� ads this year even as it cites fiscal restraint to cut programs such as scientific research and environmental monitoring. While Finance officials are refusing to disclose the budget for the current “action plan� media blitz blanketing Canadian airwaves, a Treasury Board document shows that cabinet approved $16 million in “economic action plan� advertising in the first quarter of this year alone.
That doesn’t include $5 million approved for a “better jobs� ad campaign, $8 million to sell Canadians on cuts to old age security, and $5 million to promote “responsible resource development� - the slogan given to an environmental assessment system that was cut back and restructured in the last budget. The Conservatives also approved $4.5 million for War of 1812 advertising this year. In all, the federal cabinet has already approved more than $64 million in ad spending for 2012-13 - seemingly well on its way to matching the $83.3 mil-
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lion they spent in 201011, the last year for which complete numbers are available. When the Conservatives came to office in 2006, they inherited a federal advertising budget of $41.3 million - a total they have doubled, and in one case more than tripled, every year they’ve been in power. The ad spending comes as Treasury
Board President Tony Clement oversees sweeping cuts to government programs in an across-the-board belttightening exercise. World-renowned programs such as the Experimental Lakes Area are being axed for savings of $2 million annually, while the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy was cut to save $5.5 million.
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but it took a special cabinet order passed just recently to get the measure enacted for those affected under the veterans affairs system. Ending the clawback immediately will cost the federal treasury $177.7 million over the next five years. Depending upon the severity of the injury and whether they receive the earnings loss or the income support benefit, the change could mean between $1,100 and $1,500 per month to individual veterans. More changes are on the way, affecting those veterans who entered the system prior to the introduction of the updated veterans charter. “We are also working quickly to make the necessary legislative changes to the War Veterans Allowance Act so a disability pension will no longer be considered when calculating the War Veterans Allowance benefit,� Blaney said. New Democrat veterans critic Peter Stoffer said he was pleased with the decision, but irritated by the government’s blatant politicking - including the claim it has “worked quickly� to help affected veterans. The Conservative government could have implemented Wednesday’s changes years ago, Stoffer said.
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Doug O’Halloran, leader of the union representing workers at the XL Foods cattle processing plant, arrives at a news conference about food safety at the plant in Brooks, Alta., Wednesday.
OTTAWA - Canada’s Department of Veterans Affairs has ended its long-standing, controversial policy of clawing back the benefit payments of disabled soldiers, sailors and aircrew - a move critics say has been far too long in coming. Effective immediately, the Harper government will no longer deduct the amount of a veteran’s pension from benefits for lost earnings and Canadian Forces income support, which were introduced in 2006 under the New Veterans Charter. Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney made the announcement Wednesday at a news conference at Valcartier Garrison, outside Quebec City. “We have worked quickly to make these changes to put more money in the pockets of veterans and their families, including some who haven’t been receiving these benefits until now,� Blaney said. The move is a consequence of last spring’s Federal Court ruling, which rejected the clawback of disability benefits from eligible veterans in a case waged against the Department of National Defence. Back in July, Defence Minister Peter MacKay ended the deduction for most disabled soldiers,