That nearly 70 per cent of applications for financial help to bury homeless or low-income veterans are rejected is a clear sign the Conservative government is failing veterans, Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle said this week.

He called the government's treatment of veterans appalling.

“This government had so much money to waste on celebrating a War of 1812, a war before Canada even existed, and it can’t find the money to help bury our veterans who served their country. They should be ashamed.” said Gravelle.

This latest report just adds to the many embarrassing failures from the Conservatives on the Veterans Affairs file, from debilitating red tape to failing to transition ill and injured personnel to civilian life to harmful budget cuts.

“When it comes to veterans, the Conservatives promise them so much and deliver so little,” said NDP Veterans critic Peter Stoffer (Sackville—Eastern Shore).

“Military and RCMP personnel have the unlimited liability and we in Parliament have the ultimate responsibility to their and their families’ needs, all the way to and including the headstone.”