Fantino challenged on claim of veterans receiving $10,000 per month

Only four of Canada's 521 severely wounded Canadian veterans might be eligible to receive up $10,000 per month in allowances and benefits under the Conservative government's beefed-up veteran's charter.

Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino recently cited the dollar figure to illustrate the Conservative government's generosity towards ex-service members.

However, statistics released by his own department show payments of that size would be rare indeed and maybe even purely theoretical.

The remaining 92 per cent of veterans who receive payments the permanent impairment allowance, the permanent impairment supplement and the earnings loss benefit collect far less each month.

The $10,000 figure also includes the monthly Canadian Forces pension, a payment that's made whether a soldier was injured or not.

Calculating precise amounts can be a head-spinning exercise, given the cross-section of benefits, stipends and supplementary payments available to all veterans.

Asked how many wounded soldiers receive anything close to $10,000 per month, department officials would only say the figure represents a "scenario" of a severely wounded major released after 27 years of service and that four soldiers receive the top tier of allowances.