A new veterans’ learning benefit would fund post-secondary education or technical training for war veterans if a Liberal government were elected, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff announced April 4.
With an investment of $120 million over two years, the veterans’ learning benefit would provide full funding for tuition, books, housing and living expenses for up to four years of education or training, according to a Liberal press release.
This program would be available to any currently serving or future member who gets an honourable discharge from the Canadian Forces, and would extend to a spouse or partner of a veteran who could not use the program due to their active service in the Forces, according to the press release.
“Stephen Harper broke his promise to Canada’s veterans to fix the New Veterans’ Charter,” Ignatieff said in a press release. “A Liberal government will take a different approach. We will work with veterans to adapt the charter to better support their needs.’”
“The Liberals are just not credible on this issue,” countered Conservative Party spokesperson Michael White. “The Liberals don’t give the soldiers the equipment that they need and yet pretend to care about them when they come back.”
According to White, the Conservatives “have enhanced support for the veterans and their families with the Enhanced New Veterans’ Charter Act . . . [investing] an extra $2 billion for injured veterans.”
This legislation was passed on March 24 and is meant to improve access to monthly benefits for seriously injured veterans, and generally provide a better quality of life for ill and injured veterans, according to a press release from Veterans Affairs Canada.
Veterans are currently able to benefit from their service in the Canadian Forces with funding for “tuition, books and academic equipment and in some cases job placement,” White said.
In addition, veterans would be provided with a salary with benefits, according to the Canadian Forces website. For a university education, a veteran must serve for 36 to 48 months. A college education requires veterans to “serve a number of years calculated on the basis of two months’ service for each month of subsidized education,” as explained on the Canadian Forces website.
White also said a “Helmets to Hardhats” program was proposed as part of the rejected Conservative budget. This program currently exists in the United States and is meant to help transition National Guard, Reserve and retired military members to a construction career, according to the program’s website.
John O’Neil, who is currently finishing his bachelor’s degree in international affairs at Carleton University, is a veteran who served in Afghanistan as part of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. O’Neil said the new programs are exciting, and something that he wishes were in place when he started school.
“Most soldiers aren’t looking for a handout for standards of living and rent,” O’Neil said.
“A big issue for people who have left the army that I know of is finding meaningful employment afterwards,” he said. “So this education would really help and allow them to apply the skills they learned in the military to a new trade and society when otherwise financially they may not be able to afford to do that.”
