XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: mtl.general   
   From: Paxca@nyet.ca   
      
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   ______________________________________________________________________   
   Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - thestar.com   
      
      
   Stephen Harper aide takes over as chief of staff to Veterans Minister Julian   
   Fantino   
      
   Oppositions MPs call on Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino to resign over   
   criticisms of Ottawa's handling of veterans issues.   
      
      
   OTTAWA—An aide to Prime Minister Stephen Harper has taken over as chief of   
   staff to embattled Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino as opposition MPs   
   call for his resignation.   
      
   Stephen Lecce, the director of media relations for Harper, will now also serve   
   as interim top aide to Fantino as the Conservative government struggles to get   
   a grip on a file that has turned into a political nightmare.   
      
   The staff shuffle comes just weeks after Walt Natynczyk, a retired top general   
   who headed the Canadian Armed Forces, was named deputy minister of Veterans   
   Affairs after a short stint heading the Canadian Space Agency.   
      
   The twin moves are seen as an attempt by the Conservatives to turn around a   
   struggling department that has angered veterans and dragged down the government   
   politically.   
      
   In the Commons Monday, the New Democrats and Liberals pressed Fantino to resign   
   over criticism the department is failing veterans in need.   
      
   Liberal MP Ralph Goodale said Fantino, who has served in the post since 2013,   
   has no trust or credibility left.   
      
   Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino responded to recent criticism by   
   listing initiatives launched by the Conservatives to assist veterans while   
   accusing the opposition of “mud-slinging” and “fear-mongering.”   
      
   Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino responded to recent criticism by   
   listing initiatives launched by the Conservatives to assist veterans while   
   accusing the opposition of “mud-slinging” and “fear-mongering.”   
      
   “The longer the minister clings to the government the worse they both look.   
   His portfolio has been grossly mismanaged,” Goodale said.  “To prevent any   
   more   
   trouble for veterans, will the prime minister fire this failed minister.”   
      
   Last week, the auditor general laid bare new problems with the department’s   
   efforts to treat veterans suffering chronic mental health issues, saying those   
   seeking help faced long waits that threatened their recovery.   
      
   But as the bad news dropped, Fantino was in Italy, leading a delegation of   
   veterans to mark Canada’s Second World War campaign in the country, a trip   
   that   
   the minister defended Monday.   
      
   “In my world, lest we forget means something,” said Fantino, who served as   
   Toronto police chief and commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police before   
   entering politics.   
      
   But that prompted a sharp response from Mulcair, who accused the minister of   
   “cowardice” for being out of the country. “How about showing up for work   
   and   
   taking care of them when they are alive,” the NDP leader said.   
      
   “He showed dereliction of duty by fleeing the country. Will the minister for   
   once do the honourable thing and resign.”   
      
   Fantino responded to the criticism by listing initiatives launched by the   
   Conservatives to assist veterans while accusing the opposition of   
   “mud-slinging” and “fear-mongering.”   
      
   “We are in fact making substantial improvements that are generating better   
   outcomes for Canadian veterans,” Fantino said.   
      
   Still, the problems are piling up with damning revelations of more than $1   
   billion in unspent funding by Veterans Affairs since 2006, delayed treatment of   
   ailing veterans and continuing charges that wounded ex-soldiers are being   
   short-changed in their benefits.   
      
   Nor has the situation been helped by Fantino, who has appeared chippy in his   
   dealings with some veterans. In February, he was forced to apologize for his   
   snub of veterans upset by the closing of regional Veterans Affairs offices.   
   More recently, he was chased down a hall by a woman crying out to him, seeking   
   help for her husband suffering from post-traumatic stress. Fantino didn’t   
   stop   
   to talk with her.   
      
   Fantino is the face of the problem but the problems run deeper into the   
   bureaucracy that has an insurance company mindset in dealing with veterans who   
   need help, said retired colonel Pat Stogran.   
      
   “It’s a department desperately in trouble . . . they’ve really got to   
   change   
   the culture of it,” said Stogran, who commanded ground troops in Afghanistan   
   and later served as veterans ombudsman.   
      
   As veterans ombudsman, Stogran said he warned two ministers that what was   
   unfolding in the department “was a scandal about to erupt.”   
      
   Stogran said a public inquiry is needed to probe the problems within Veterans   
   Affairs.   
      
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