Press one if you feel suicidal.
MP Colin Mayes has again left the world of reality in order to publish his spin on Conservative policies: he now claims that no veteran will be left behind.
Unfortunately for his credibility, on Feb. 6, As It Happens interviewed Blair MacIvor, an injured veteran of both Bosnia and Afghanistan, who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and has posted the live interview online.
You wouldn’t know that they were talking about the same process. According to MacIvor, the Cape Breton Veterans Affairs office served about 5,000 vets with a staff of 16 who had a very heavy workload, who will now be replaced by four workers in Halifax.
Each case officer will have 1,200 cases, meaning that each case will be able to see an officer once in four years, assuming that the officers are available 300 days a year – longer if they work five days a week.
Vets will now be able to “press one for this, two for that” and will have no personal contact with anyone.
PTSD is characterized by quick anger and frustration, and the face-to-face bonding is critical. If they cannot get personal assistance, they will end up on alcohol and drugs, or dead.
So who is Mr. MacIvor to believe? Colin Mayes, or his own lying eyes...
Richard Smiley