A false bill of sale

Remarkably, the Cons' "declare victory and leave" strategy on wait times may not even have made for their most embarrassingly empty piece of electioneering this week. It was sad enough when Harper announced a Veterans' Bill of Rights without having even the slightest clue what was supposed to be included. But judging from what appears to be the actual document, the Cons have scrupulously avoided providing anything of substance to veterans.

The entire list of "rights" set out by the Cons is as follows:

You have the right to:
o Be treated with respect, dignity, fairness and courtesy.
o Take part in discussions that involve you and your family.
o Have someone with you for support when you deal with Veterans Affairs.
o Receive clear, easy-to-understand information about our programs and services, in English or French, as set out in the Official Languages Act.
o Have your privacy protected as set out in the Privacy Act.
o Receive benefits and services as set out in our published service standards and to know your appeal rights.
o You have the right to make a complaint and have the matter looked into if you feel that any of your rights have not been upheld.

In other words, the most substantive of the supposedly new "rights" granted to Canadian veterans consist of nothing more than a restatement of what already exists under other laws. And indeed, the specific references to the Official Languages Act, Privacy Act and "published service standards" strongly imply that if the Cons are able to change these for the worse, then veterans will explicitly share in the loss of that benefit.

Meanwhile, the Cons themselves have voted against actual improvements to the benefits available to veterans' widows. But then, "honest government" doesn't appear either in the bill of rights, or in the Cons' general vocabulary.

Unfortunately, it doesn't get any better from there. Most of the remaining "rights" are nothing more than basic principles of natural justice, which should likewise apply to all Canadians. (Unless the Cons think that only veterans should be able to take part in discussions which affect their interests, to bring another person for support in dealing with government entities, or to make complaints.)

Which means that we're now down to the first clause - which would itself easily be lumped into the category of "things that should be reasonably expected by anybody dealing with the government" if it weren't too vague to be even remotely enforceable.

In sum, the Cons' much-publicized announcement effectively amounts to nothing more than a declaration that the law which applies to Canadians generally also applies to veterans. And that lack of honesty in what the Cons have presented - not to mention their broken promise on widows' benefits - can only be seen as antithetical to the respect the Cons pretend to hold for those who have fought for Canada.