With veterans preparing for Remembrance Day, many are calling on the federal government to fulfill a promise regarding their pension benefits.

In 2015, the Liberals said spouses of an armed forces member over 60 years of age would get their pension benefits if that member passed, but that never happened, and an Island MP is taking the fight back to Ottawa.

Watch below:

Blair Meadows is proud of the more than 20 years of service as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

He’s proud of the time he served his country, but there’s a change he’s been calling on the government to make when it comes to his pension benefits.

Currently single and 63-years-old, if he gets married, his future spouse would not be entitled to his pension benefits if he died.

That’s because of what was called the gold digger clause.

“It was formed right after the First World War to stop young ladies from marrying men over 60 and then collecting their benefits, so I thought to myself, well, 100 years ago, 60 was almost the end of life, and now 100 years later, we live a lot longer,” said Meadows.

“It’s an honour to introduce this bill today, just ahead of Remembrance Day next week, which seeks to eliminate the gold digger clause, which penalizes spouses who marry after the age of 60,” said Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns as he introduced his private members’ bill on Nov. 7.

“My bill amends certain acts related to survivor pension benefits so that spouses of Canadian military, RCMP and federal civil servants who marry after age 60 are not punished for having found love later in life,” said Johns.

“Over 8,900 veteran spouses don’t get the pension of the veteran when they pass away, and 98 per cent of those that are impacted are women, and so I mean this is an unfair policy that’s in place that harms spouses of veterans and caregivers,” said Johns.

The estimated cost of the change is $2 billion. Meadows says the government has a history of not taking great care of its veterans, and this would make a solid positive change to his life and those of many other veterans.

“If I meet somebody, I want to be able to offer them everything, and this way, the way things are right now I can’t offer them a bright future, especially if I do end up having to be taken care of by my spouse,” said Meadow.

The bill was raised before by former North Island – Powell River MP Rachel Blaney and has been supported by Green MP Elizabeth May.

The bill can be found at this link.