QUESTION PERIOD — Veterans Affairs
Overpayments to Veterans
December 10, 2025
A shocking Global News report revealed that nearly 100 Canadian veterans have now received repayment demands from Veterans Affairs, not because of wrongdoing on their part, but because the government failed to process income information they submitted years ago.
These are men and women who served our country with honour, now blindsided by a clerical error by your government and told to repay tens of thousands of dollars and, in some cases, up to $60,000.
Senator Moreau, how could Veterans Affairs allow supposed debts to accumulate for up to five years before notifying the very people this government claims to support?
Neither Budget 2025 nor the budget implementation act impact the Income Replacement Benefit.
Veterans Affairs Canada will work with individual veterans on a case-by-case basis to ensure no one experiences undue hardship as a result of any overpayment they might owe.
This is not an isolated failure, Senator Moreau. Your government is cutting $4 billion from Veterans Affairs, reducing disability payment rates for some veterans and curtailing essential treatments, like shockwave therapy. Now veterans are once again left vulnerable because your government refuses to take accountability for its own mistake.
Senator, does your government have any compassion at all for the veterans it keeps failing?
Not only the government but myself — I have the utmost respect for all Canadian veterans.
Let me be clear. The budget invests $184 million, with $40 million ongoing, to modernize and strengthen service delivery for veterans, although you voted against those measures.
How can you stand here to speak on behalf of veterans when you vote against measures that are needed by them and that the government wants to implement to help them?
