This story, although just published, is actually very old news and is just a regurgitation of comments made a year or so ago. As a Veteran, I've been following this issue since back in 2012 when the Equitas Society first launched the lawsuit. Everyone, including Veterans, is divided on this issue and it is much more complex than it appears on the surface.
A little history about the New Veterans Charter (NVC)......The NVC was created by the Liebrals as a living document and changes may be made to it as required. It replaced the life long disability pension with a one time cash settlement based on the extent of the disability and includes numerous more social programs and monetary benefits (ie. Exceptional Incapacity Allowance - EIA, Permanent Impairment Allowance - PIA, Earnings Loss Benefit) . That is in addition to what the SISIP insurance plan pays Veterans which is up to 75% of their last salary prior to becoming disabled. The NVC was passed into legislation two months after PM Harper took office so it is something that he inherited from the Liebrals.
Some disabled Veterans are quite happy with the NVC while others think that it is absolutely terrible. IMO, the biggest flaw to it is that SISIP expires when you turn age 65 and there needs to be a new pension put in place for disabled Veterans when they lose their monthly SISIP payments. As a living document, this change could easily be made and I don't know why the Conservatives wouldn't go ahead with something like this when it probably won't effect the budget for 20 or more years. Perhaps they are waiting until closer to the election to unveil something like that.
WRT the "Social Contract". The argument by Equitas was that Veterans deserved better health care than the average Canadian citizen.....kind of a two tiered medical system......and the government argued that Veterans are entitled to the same medical treatment as the average Canadian citizen, no better or no worse.
The other issue is allowing courts to overturn legislation passed in the House of Commons/Senate. If this suit is won, it would open the door to anyone to challenge in court every legislation passed and the government would be in court all of the time.
Like I stated, it is a very complex issue and I've only touched upon the tip of the iceberg.
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