Federal judge reserves decision in military housing case

HALIFAX – A federal court judge in Halifax has reserved his decision in the case of a Canadian soldier seeking compensation for the $88,000 he lost on the sale of his home when the military forced him to move from Alberta in 2010.

Maj. Marcus Brauer, who now lives in Halifax, wants the court to order the Treasury Board Secretariat to review its decision to grant him only $15,000 in compensation.

Brauer’s lawyer, Daniel Wallace, argued in court today that Ottawa should have covered all of his client’s losses because there is a policy in place offering financial protection to military members forced to move from depressed housing markets.

Wallace told the court that housing prices in Bon Accord, Alta., dropped 23 per cent during the three years Brauer lived there, which met the definition of a depressed market in the military’s relocation policy.

However, the Treasury Board Secretariat decided that wasn’t the case, arguing the municipality of Bon Accord was actually part of Edmonton, where housing prices had dropped just 2.9 per cent.