Fantino Openly Apologizes for Arriving Late on Veterans’ Meeting

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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In a written apology released publicly, Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino openly expressed regret for showing up “very late” at a meeting scheduled on Tuesday with veterans worried about the closing of support offices across Canada. However, despite his apology, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, has stressed that Fantino’s actions were condemnable and that he should resign for disrespecting veterans.

The meeting missed on Tuesday was to be held with a group of veterans interested in persuading the government to take back their decision of closing eight Veterans Affairs regional offices across Canada at the end of the week, though a ninth office has already been closed in Prince George, B.C. Since Mr. Fantino was absent at the time of meeting, former soldiers were greeted by a handful of Conservatives, including MP and veteran Laurie Hawn. And a short while before the veterans were set to hold a news conference on late Tuesday, Fantino appeared for a brief meeting.

However, even after appearing for the meeting, some veterans complained that Fantino was disrespectful and at least one demanded he resign, which was a sentiment seconded by the NDP leader. However, Fantino issued a written apology on Wednesday, stating “yesterday, due to (a) cabinet meeting that ran long, I was very late in meeting a group of veterans that had come to Ottawa to discuss their concerns. I sincerely apologize for how this was handled. Today, I am reaching out to those veterans to reiterate that apology personally.”