Re: “Vets feel forgotten after Wilson-Raybould exit,” Feb. 17.
Through all of this abysmal affair, one dimension is almost totally ignored, that of Jody Wilson-Raybould’s reasons for resigning as minister of veterans affairs.
In an interview, Bill Wilson suggested that his daughter was demoted into that particular ministry, which he described as the second least important one in government. Her subsequent tweet back to “dad” suggests that was and is her view. She appears to believe she was overqualified for that post. Veterans Affairs is of seemingly little importance to politicians and pundits alike.
In the past 104 years, about 114,000 Canadians were killed in action or died directly as a result of wounds or injuries incurred while on active service. Another 300,000 were wounded or injured while serving Canada and Canadians. Many of those wounded returned permanently damaged physically, mentally, spiritually or socially. That anyone, much less a parliamentarian, would consider an appointment as minister of veterans affairs to be a demotion and unworthy of her is offensive in the extreme.
Compounding that offence is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s naming of Harjit Sajjan as interim minister. He might well be the one of the least effective ministers of national defence in many years. That does not augur well for Veterans Affairs in the remaining life of the Trudeau government.
W.J. McCullough
Nanaimo
