Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1  The bill would amend the War Veterans Allowance Act to ensure that veterans' disability benefits would no longer be deducted when calculating the war veteran allowance, and the contributions for the last post fund for funeral and burial services would be doubled. Further, this budget is very good news for our partners in the municipalities across Canada. Bill C-60 proposes to index the gas tax revenue that is sent to municipalities, which they use for important transit and transportation infrastructure that suits local needs.

Veterans Affairs  Conservatives dragged disabled veterans through the courts over pension clawbacks. They made the appeals process for benefits a nightmare. They shortchanged the last post fund to the point of embarrassment; and then there are the Conservative privacy violations: Sean Bruyea, Sylvain Chartrand and so many others had their most private information callously breached.

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1  Economic action plan 2013 also proposes to simplify and enhance the funeral and burial program that is delivered by the Last Post Fund corporation on behalf of Veterans Affairs Canada. It will amount to about $65 million over two years and will double the reimbursement rate, from $3,600 to $7,376. Our government is working hard to maintain low taxes for Canadian families and individuals.

Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act  We saw that the government had to be pushed to the wall to do something to replenish the Last Post Fund.

Veterans  Speaker, veterans and their families deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. However, a number of low-income veterans' families cannot use the last post fund to help pay for funeral expenses. The $12,000 exemption is simply not high enough; it falls well below the poverty line. Will the Conservatives finally increase the exemption?

Last Post Fund  The time provided for the consideration of this item of private members' business has now expired, and the order is dropped to the bottom of the order of precedence on the order paper.

Last Post Fund  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for sharing her party's views on the funeral and burial program. What is very surprising is to see a member from the Liberal Party stand and put forward such a motion. It was the Liberal Party, while it was in government, that drastically cut benefits under this important program.

Last Post Fund  Mr. Speaker, is it not just like the Conservatives to suggest that by voting against the economic action plan, we would be voting against veterans, when nothing could be further from the truth? We are giving the Conservatives the opportunity to single out this issue, to vote for Motion No. 422 so that we do not have to do an injustice to our veterans.

The Budget  With this in mind, I move, seconded by the member for Winnipeg North, that the motion be further amended by adding the following: That the amendment be amended by adding after the words “hospital parking” the following: n) imposes three more job killing employment insurance tax hikes by 2016 taking an additional $4 billion out of the pockets of Canadians; o) does not provide a dedicated waste water infrastructure fund to help municipalities meet the new federal waste water regulations; p) fails to bring the provinces together to create a supplemental voluntary Canada Pension Plan; q) downloads new costs onto the provinces and territories to pay for job training; r) provides no new funding for critical water and waste water needs in First Nations communities; s) fails to provide a comprehensive approach to addressing mental health needs of Canadians; t) fails to expand the scope of the Last Post Fund to include post-Korean War Veterans; u) fails to restore funding to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for search and rescue; v) fails to find the funding to keep open the Experimental Lakes Areas, the world renowned freshwater research facility; w) fails to restore funding to the Interim Federal Health Program for refugee health care; x) does not renew the critical Extended Employment Insurance Benefits Pilot Project; and y) commits even more funding to wasteful partisan advertising.

The Economy  It is a plan that includes a new building Canada plan, the Canada job grant, investment in the manufacturing industry, tariff relief for baby clothes and sports equipment, increased funding for the Last Post Fund and the list goes on. While our government is taking action and delivering results for Canadians, the Leader of the Opposition is advocating for increased and reckless spending, increased taxes, and is trash-talking Canada.

Subcommittee on Private Members' Business committee  Next is motion M-422, with respect to the funding of the Last Post Fund. This is the program of Veterans Affairs Canada. It is clearly within federal jurisdiction, it does not appear to be clearly against the Constitution, and there is no similar motion on the order paper.

Veterans Affairs committee  Minister, I would like to know what is planned for the next fiscal year when it comes to the Last Post Fund. An amount of $1 million was cut from that fund. However, veterans and undertakers have asked for an increase to complement the funeral costs for veterans in need. Given the demands that have been made over the past few months, we find those cuts to be contradictory.

Veterans Affairs  They can just listen to this: “These measures...were adopted to ensure that the delivery of the Funeral and Burial program for our Veterans remains at its present level of quality”. Who said that? It was the Last Post Fund, ten months ago.

Veterans Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals cut the Last Post Fund program, but—

Veterans Affairs  I was just saying, Mr. Speaker, that the Liberals cut the Last Post Fund program, and we are maintaining this funding while finding administrative savings. Ten thousand veterans are benefiting and have benefited from this program. This program, actually, is being maintained and is fully funded.