Our Conservative government has made historic investments to improve the care and services available to Canada’s veterans. We are working to cut red tape, and modernizing the department to reduce spending on administration and to deliver the highest quality and amount of services and benefits to veterans.
Canada’s Funeral and Burial Program, as administered by the Last Post Fund, is designed to assist the families of veterans with the cost of a funeral, and since 2006, the families of approximately 10,000 veterans have benefited from it. As a standalone, Canada’s program covers the full cost of a burial for a veteran and helps with the cost of the funeral. Together, these amounts provide an average of $7,000 to $10,000 for the families of veterans who could not otherwise afford it.
Canada’s program is among the best in the world and we continue to look for ways to improve all of our programs and services, including the funeral and burial program, in a challenging fiscal climate.
It is worth noting that it was our government that expanded the Veterans Independence Program to help the widows of more than 38,000 veterans.
It was also our government that set the minimum annual income for seriously injured veterans to $58,000, well above anything that was provided before.
In fact, since forming the government and guiding the country through a period of fiscal and economic restraint, we have increased the budget of the department by over 25 per cent.
Of our current budget, which exceeds $3.5 billion, over 90 per cent is spent in direct benefits and services for Canada’s veterans and their families.
Canadians can be confident that our government is working for and standing up for veterans.
Steven Blaney
Minister of Veterans Affairs
Ottawa
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