The federal government has reduced the danger pay for Canadian troops who are still serving in Afghanistan.
Starting April 15, soldiers deployed in Afghanistan for the first time will get $848 per month in hardship and risk allowances, down from $1,356.
Those who have been on previous tours will receive more money, depending on the length of their deployments.
About 930 Canadian military personnel are in Afghanistan on a training mission.
A Department of National Defence official said Tuesday that the change in hardship and risk pay is part of an annual review that reassesses how dangerous each mission abroad is.
The allowances for hardship and risk remain in place and are not subject to efficiencies identified in deficit reduction initiatives, the official told CTV News.
Operation Attention is Canada’s contribution to the NATO-led training mission in Afghanistan, whose goal is to bolster the war-ravaged country’s national security forces.
Those troops are also entitled to an “operations foreign service premium” of $759 per month and a tax relief benefit for the duration of their deployment.
The special monetary allocations add up to in excess of $14,000 over six months, the official said.
The military evaluates the hardship of each mission on a scale of zero to six (“very austere”), and assesses risk on a scale of zero to four (“high and constant risk”).
The Canadians’ current training mission in Afghanistan is not considered to be as dangerous as the combat mission, which ended in 2011.
Another 50 troops are deployed in regional missions in the Middle East, but a DND spokesperson could not say by how much their hardship and risk allowances would change.
With files from The Canadian Press
