OTTAWA - NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling on the Liberal government to spend millions of dollars that have been earmarked to help veterans that have been left unspent.

The New Democrats will use an opposition-day motion, when they get a chance to push business in the House of Commons, to pressure the governing Liberals to spend $372 million that's been promised for veterans but that's been left on the table.

Singh says veterans have received inadequate help when it comes to accessing benefits and support services for far too long and that's because money gets included in budgets the Commons approves but it sits there unused. After a while, it just goes back into the government's accounts.

Singh says the routine of letting money "lapse" has to end and the NDP motion calls on the government to roll unspent money into budgets for the next year.

But when asked how the New Democrats' plan for veterans is any different from the Liberals' or the Conservatives', he says the NDP's job is to shed light on the issue and repeats that it's not acceptable.

A motion isn't binding, unlike a bill, but Singh hopes to put some pressure on the Liberals in advance of Remembrance Day.

 

              

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