OTTAWA, March 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Royal Canadian Legion is trusting that the 2023 budget commitment of $156.7 million dollars announced today to help support military and RCMP Veterans, will do just that – and in tangible ways.
“We are happy to see this proposed spending,” says Bruce Julian, Dominion President. “But it needs to be properly targeted. We would like more clarity on exactly how it will be spent. This funding should go where it’s needed most, and in a way that directly benefits Veterans and clears the backlog.”
The proposed investment in Veterans Affairs Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Veterans Review and Appeal Board over five years was announced in the budget to help tackle the backlog in benefits processing, and support the delivery of programs and services.
“The Legion would also like assurances that this money will actually be spent,” says Julian. Earlier this year, it was reported that Veterans Affairs Canada had not spent one billion dollars during its previous fiscal year. The question still remains, will those particular funds eventually become re-allocated? At the time, it was reported this funding would “remain available” in future years.
Notably, the new $156.7 million commitment is only a small percentage of those unspent funds.
The Legion will continue to monitor the details and any plan of action related to the Budget 2023 investment.
For more information on the full list of Legion priority areas, please visit: https://www.legion.ca/advocating-for-veterans/advocating-for-change.
About The Royal Canadian Legion
Founded in 1925, the Legion is Canada’s largest Veteran support and community service organization. We are a non-profit organization with a national reach across Canada as well as branches in the U.S. and Europe. With 250,000 members, many of whom volunteer an extraordinary amount of time to their branches, our strength is in our numbers.
Public Relations / Media Inquiries: PublicRelations@Legion.ca/ 343-540-7604 - Nujma Bond
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