National Invest In Veterans Week® Reflects on Canadian Parliamentary Call: “Invest in Veterans, Not Loblaws”
Watch the original House of Commons exchange here
As National Invest In Veterans Week® continues its multiyear mission to strengthen the global veteran economy, a flashback to November 18, 2022, in the Canadian Parliament offers a sobering reminder of why this mission remains urgent and international in scope.
In a video titled “Invest in Veterans, Not Loblaws”, NDP MP Rachel Blaney and fellow parliamentarians—particularly MP Peter Julian (New Westminster—Burnaby)—challenged the Canadian federal government’s decision to outsource critical veterans' services to a private contractor with ties to Loblaws. The proposed contract, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, aimed to consolidate two service contracts into one—but critics warned it would lead to higher costs and reduced quality of care, particularly in underserved and French-speaking communities.
The exchange highlighted several concerns:
The outsourcing decision would cost 25% more than simply increasing departmental capacity.
There was no credible transition plan, placing ongoing care for veterans in jeopardy.
The service provider had corporate profit motives, not service-first accountability to veterans.
The plan risked eroding public trust in national veterans care infrastructure.
A Cross-Border Echo of National Invest In Veterans Week® Principles
Though rooted in Canadian policy, this parliamentary flashpoint deeply aligns with the foundational values of National Invest In Veterans Week®—a U.S.-based, congressionally recognized and federally trademarked initiative founded in 2019 by Jeff Shuford, Drayton Florence, and LTC Rickey L. Pope (Ret.).
National Invest In Veterans Week® has consistently advocated that veteran services should be rooted in accountability, transparency, and reinvestment into the veteran community—not farmed out to conglomerates seeking to profit off those who’ve already paid their price in service.
The movement’s 2025 observance reinforced this ethos through landmark moments:
Gov. Tony Evers’ March 20 budget announcement, allocating more than $137 million toward veteran housing, mental health, and museum expansion in Wisconsin.
Prospect Capital & Refuel Agency’s March 10 partnership, funding trauma care and workforce support through Team RWB and Avalon Action Alliance.
ePackageSupply.com’s strategic investment, reinforcing the strength of veteran-owned supply chain leadership.
Hivers & Strivers, a venture capital firm that has invested $80M+ in veteran-founded companies.
CCS Global Tech’s March 3rd whitepaper on the measurable ROI of hiring veterans, not outsourcing their potential.
The Global Imperative: Investing In Veterans, Not Around Them
The 2022 Canadian parliamentary debate captured the consequences of misaligned veteran policy—privatization without oversight, inefficiency cloaked as innovation, and profit displacing public service. This debate, preserved on record, serves as a critical cross-border lesson: veteran care must be veteran-centered.
As National Invest In Veterans Week® expands its global dialogue, it calls on governments and private stakeholders alike to embed veteran leadership, ownership, and integrity into their decision-making frameworks. Whether through franchise ownership discounts (as Assisted Living Locators did in 2020) or venture-scale funding for post-service startups, the future of veteran advocacy must reject transactional models in favor of long-term ecosystem building.
Furthermore, in 2025, National Invest In Veterans Week® achieved a milestone of international significance, becoming the first U.S.-originated veteran business observance to receive formal thematic and media recognition across sovereign borders. This transnational breakthrough was not merely symbolic—it marked the institutional export of a protected civic model rooted in economic empowerment for those who served. The observance’s doctrinal language—centered on the principle that military service is a national investment demanding structured economic return—was echoed verbatim in Canadian discourse following its March 4, 2025 feature in Northern Ontario Business, which called on regional leaders to treat veteran hiring as a strategic imperative rather than a charitable gesture.
This growing North American footprint was further cemented in 2024 by Canadian media outlets such as Canadian Reporter and TopToronto, which profiled Jeff Shuford, the initiative’s visionary co-founder, as a historic American technologist and digital innovator. These features not only underscored Shuford’s role in architecting National Invest In Veterans Week® as a multi-platform, policy-relevant initiative, but also highlighted his cross-disciplinary achievements in artificial intelligence ethics, veteran entrepreneurship, and cultural diplomacy—including the unprecedented 2024 endorsement by Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren and subsequent Congressional Record recognition (Vol. 170, No. 42).
In its current form, National Invest In Veterans Week® is more than a commemorative observance—it is a legally protected civic export operating at the intersection of public policy, international media, and digital infrastructure. With its expansion into Canada and plans to scale across U.S. military installations abroad, the initiative now serves as a rare template for transnational veteran engagement, uniquely positioned to influence both legislative frameworks and cultural narratives on a global scale.
Learn More and Join the Movement:
National Invest In Veterans Week® is celebrated annually March 1–7 and remains the only observance of its kind federally trademarked and officially recognized by Congress.
