A Billion for a Million

In just two days, without a single dissenting vote, a bill for Canada's one million World War II veterans zipped through the House of Commons. Eligible for its benefits were all soldiers who volunteered for service overseas (whether they went over or not) plus those Home Defense Army "zombies" who served in Kiska. Uneligible: all other "zombies."

The bill's chief provisions:

P: A bonus: $7.50 for each 30-days' service in the Western Hemisphere (except the Aleutians), plus $15 for each 30-days' service overseas (including the Aleutians), plus an extra week's pay for each six months overseas.

P: A $100 clothing allowance.

P: An outright gift, roughly equal to the amount of the bonus, but payable only for specified civilian rehabilitation purposes, such as buying houses.

All gratuities would be taxfree. A private who enlisted at war's start and went overseas with the first Canadian troops could get up to $1,700.

Estimates of the cost of all this ranged from $750,000,000 to a round billion. But no one blinked. The bill was not only a bow to those who fight. It also constituted an approach to postwar pump-priming, a system of preparing in advance against depression.

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