The national president of Canada’s largest union, CUPE’s Paul Moist, used his visit to Corner Brook to call on the Harper government to re-open the recently closed Veterans Affairs office.
Moist challenged Veteran’s Affairs Minister Julian Fantino to re-open all nine offices that have been closed, including the one in Corner Brook.
Speaking to delegates at CUPE NL’s 40th annual convention Moist said, “This federal government has treated our veterans in a shameful manner. We owe our veterans no less than to listen and act on their concerns about these devastating changes to the services they receive.”
Moist referred to an incident in January of this year, when a group of veterans and supporters went to Ottawa to meet with Fantino. They were initially told that the minister had been called away on business.
“When he finally showed up almost an hour late for the meeting, he gave the veteran’s short shrift when they tried to express how upset they were about the office closures,” said Moist.
Veterans have been clear on what they want. They believe transferring veteran services to Service Canada offices will not adequately fulfill their needs. They believe nine veteran affairs staff cannot possibly deliver the same level of service as the 90 who have staffed Veterans Affairs Canada offices – who were already overworked and under-resourced.
CUPE is urging all of its members to support the Public Service Alliance of Canada campaign to protect veteran services.
For information:
Greg Taylor
CUPE Communications Rep.
613.818.0067 (m)
gtaylor@cupe.ca
John McCracken
CUPE Communications Rep.
902.880.8057 (m)
jmccracken@cupe.ca