The QP Clip: Sean Casey on vets’ pensions

The Charlottetown MP doesn’t like the feds taking disabled vets to court

<p>Defence Minister Peter MacKay takes part in a news conference on report regarding the purchase of the F 35 fighter jets on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday December 12, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand</p>

Defence Minister Peter MacKay takes part in a news conference on report regarding the purchase of the F 35 fighter jets on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday December 12, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand

Charlottetown MP Sean Casey, the Liberal veterans’ affairs critic, howled at the government benches about the feds’ treatment of disabled veterans. The government recently announced an $887.8-million settlement with vets whose pensions were, for decades, improperly clawed back. In his first question, Casey wondered how much of the cumulative legal fees owed throughout the five years of litigation—$66 million, according to reports—the government would pay. In the supplementary captured above, the Prince Edward Islander asked about the government’s treatment of another group that hopes to settle: disabled RCMP veterans.

Immediately following Casey’s interventions, the NDP’s Peter Stoffer—his party’s veterans critics—hammered away at the same questions. Bonus: You get to hear from both MacKay and, after Stoffer’s supplementary, Treasury Board President Tony Clement.