OTTAWA - Planned reductions in the Veterans Affairs budget will be the subject of a study by a House of Commons committee.
Liberal MP Sean Casey managed to sneak a motion through the veterans committee Thursday calling for a review after several Conservative government members, who are in the majority, were late for the meeting.
The department is planning to cut $226 million from its budget in the coming year because of the dwindling number of Second World War and Korean War veterans -- a decision the veterans ombudsman says makes no sense.
Guy Parent told the same Commons committee earlier this week that the numbers aren't falling as fast as projected and there are more new veterans being added every month because of the Afghan war.
Casey boasted of the small victory in House of Commons on Thursday and vowed to have Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney appear before the committee to explain the reductions. He wondered aloud whether the minister would "be on time."
In making the motion, Casey demanded MPs set aside their planned review of war monuments in order to study the department's $3.5-billion budget.
Blaney didn't address the budget criticism during question period, but said veterans "have been winning massively for six years with the Conservative government."
Government officials have argued they can always go back and ask the federal Treasury Board for more cash if the benefits projections are wrong.
But such a request would happen against a backdrop of tighter government spending and at a time when the Harper government has asked each department to trim spending between five and 10 per cent.
Those cuts would be on top of the $226-million reduction.
Parent said not all modern-day veterans will access veterans benefits, but the government needs to be ready nonetheless.
"It means the same budget for the same programs," he told the committee.
The Royal Canadian Legion said it understands there may be fewer elderly veterans in need of services, but opposes the further program review cuts. The group has argued that the department should be exempt from such a budget exercise.
In tracking this year's federal budget, a recent Treasury Board report showed that compensation and financial support to veterans is running about seven per cent higher than the department expected.
Veterans Affairs is on track to spend $163.2 million more on disability awards and allowances because of a higher-than-expected number of applications.
Government officials say benefits to individuals, wounded in the line of duty, will not change as a result of the planned budget reduction.
