OTTAWA, ON, April 6, 2005  - Cliff Chadderton, Chairman of the 51-member National Council of Veteran Associations (NCVA), today expressed "some concerns" regarding a Government announcement to increase veterans' benefits.

In particular, some veterans were urging their comrades regarding a perceived policy that the Government may be using them to bolster its public image.

He noted that the new legislation preserved the time-honoured principles which have been 'grandfathered' in the new legislation, thus preserving current benefits enjoyed by veterans and their dependants.

"These benefits were earned by veterans, who participated in combat roles in the military Armed forces, many against cruel dictatorships in foreign lands," Chadderton said.

He stated that recent improvements in veterans' legislation, including retroactivity of benefits for widows and improvements in longterm care for World War II veterans, will be in line with the legislative agenda of veterans organizations.

Many of the organizations of NCVA represent those injured or otherwise whose health has been adversely affected by exposure to hostile environments in overseas locations. The Government appeared to be recognizing post traumatic stress conditions.

The significant feature of the announcement regarding improvement in benefits will bring compensation for peacekeepers and their families more in line with today's higher cost of living. The World War II veteran's pension is generally considered to be based on the salary of an unskilled worker in the public service; that is, $75 a month indexed in accordance with increases in the cost of living. Generally the paid allowances for an incoming married member of the Forces is more than $50,000 at today's rates. A 100% pensioner from World War II is $30,000. The base figure has not been increased since the early 1920s.

Chadderton pointed to what he called the 'downside,' expressed by veterans in recent pilgrimages to Korea, Italy, Belgium and France . A policy statement released at last November's annual meeting of the National Council expressed serious concern that the federal Government appeared to be embarked upon a policy of using veterans' pilgrimages to make political announcements.

Recent examples, including pilgrimages commemorating the 60^th anniversary of the Dieppe raid in August 1942 and the opening of the Juno Beach Centre in 2003 at Courseulles, France, saw self-serving statements by federal and provincial officials. The occasions were used to announce generous Government grants. Some veterans did comment, however, that the commemorations appeared to be taking on the aspect of political motives.

Chadderton noted a tendency to announce improvements under which politicians hoped to be seen to be honouring veterans and their families by announcing increased benefits based on length of service or extent of disabilities.