The new federal budget, if it passes, will change the way disability benefits are calculated — and that has the country’s military veterans worried that they’ll face a less generous system in the future.

The fiscal plan, tabled by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Nov. 4, proposes to modify the indexing formula so that it is calculated solely on the basis of the consumer price index (CPI), or cost of living.

The change would come into effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

Up until this point, the benefit’s annual increase has been calculated using either the CPI or the average of a basket of public service salaries, whichever is greater. It is an important, generous distinction in the system, which veterans successfully lobbied for in the 1980s.

Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal gov

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