After months of calls for this resignation by opposition parties and veterans affairs advocates, Canada’s Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino has been relieved of his portfolio, and made an associate minister of defence.
Conservative government MP and former member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Erin O’Toole was sworn in as the new veterans affairs minister at a ceremony at the Governor General’s residence in Ottawa on Monday (January 5).
Since his appointment as veterans affairs minister in July 2013 Fantino’s department has cut budgets, veterans affairs offices, and he’s walked out of a meeting with veterans advocating for better care.
The minister and his ministry have been under attack for not sufficiently helping Canada’s military veterans, and according to the opposition parties, misleading Canadians about a recent funding announcement. There has also been a stream of highly publicized suicides by veterans suffering from PTSD.
Last November, Canada’s Auditor General in a review of government spending reported that one of every five Canadian veterans suffering from a mental illness has to wait more than eight months before the government approves help, and such delays “may jeopardize a veteran’s stabilization and/or recovery”,
Throughout all the criticisms, Minister Fantino had insisted that his department was improving services for veterans.
More information:
CBC News – Julian Fantino out as veterans affairs minister – here
RCI – Opposition parties call for resignation of Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino – here
Global News – Timeline: Julian Fantino’s troubled tenure as veterans affairs minister – here
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s official statement on change of ministry – here
RCI – Former Veterans Ombudsman, Colonel (retired) Pat Stogran wants public inquiry into treatment of veterans – here
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