Veterans affairs job cuts reduced to duelling job descriptions in Commons

The debate over staff cuts at Veterans Affairs has descended into duelling job descriptions, with the Conservatives insisting the disability and health care jobs they eliminated were back-room bureaucratic positions.

Departmental performance reports going back to 2009 show that the number of employees in the part of the department that decides and manages pension eligibility for ex-soldiers was reduced by 33 per cent.

The section that oversees the delivery of health care and the return of soldiers to civilian life was cut 19.5 per cent; staff at the commemoration branch was reduced by 17 per cent.

The department’s internal services, the principal administration and support, was reduced by only 10 per cent over four years.

Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino told the House of Commons that there are back-office staff in all program areas, and that the government makes “no apologies whatsoever” for cutting red tape.

The Opposition NDP and the Liberals say the department’s cuts were lopsided and too deep in areas that couldn’t spare the resources.

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