PMO sources confirm Veteran Affairs Minister Julian Fantino is out, only after a year of mocking Canada’s veterans.

The business audience Prime Minister Stephen Harper was talking to in New York wasn’t the only thing that was lacking. He has failed to act on his harsh words during the Ukraine crisis and he has lied about Canada’s involvement in Iraq. It is clear Harper has not only lost credibility at home, but more disturbingly, abroad.

Canada’s veterans are fuming over the Conservative government’s recent decision to close 8 offices and merge veterans’ services with Service Canada. After a recent fallout with Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino, who refuses to reconsider the closures, veterans are urging Canadians to give the Tories the boot in 2015.

Who said Canadian politics is boring? This year has been a news-maker filled with controversy and action. From the battle that wages over the economy to the one being waged in the senate, Canadian political junkies had ample opportunities to gather popcorn or join the discussion over the issues that matter to them.

Canada’s armed forces are being suffocated by bureaucracy and cutbacks in the equipment and training they need. The Conservatives claim to be there for our military but former officials will tell you otherwise.

Despite a report two years ago outlining wasteful bureaucracy in the Department of Defense, and despite a cut to the department as part of the Conservatives’ effort to reign in their deficit, the number of civilian staff members rose 30% in six years. For a government that preaches fiscal prudence, there is no place they want to seal off more than the Defense department.

Emails show Canadian diplomats and military officials were instructed to downplay the scathing report from the Auditor General which outlined the Government’s waste in the F-35 project when speaking with foreign officials. At one point, they were told to blame it on “bureaucratic” issues.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper wasted $50,000 on the look of his personal government plane with the design revealed on February 24 being applied to the jet. NDP leader Thomas Mulcair accused Harper of blurring the lines between government and party money as the plane clearly didn’t need a paint job and is themed after the Conservatives’ three main colours.

Stephen Harper and his Conservatives have fought hard for their coveted F-35 contract, even in spite of inflating costs and warnings from the US congress. Now, without surprise, the Conservatives have been forced to retreat on the purchase of planes that wouldn’t even have been equipped to fly! It must be a very painful day to be the Conservative strategist because the party has invested a lot of political capital and a lot of taxpayers’ time into this deal. We all know that time is money and Canada’s air-force doesn’t have forever to wait for new planes and we all know that we can get state of the art planes for a better price than the Conservative offer for the F-35 defects.

The Conservatives are usually the ones prided with policies pertaining to national security and protecting countries from foreign threats. Not only did the Conservatives fail to live up to their mantra, they endangered our allies.