Mr. Chairman, I agree that these commemorative exercises are hugely important. I just came from the 70th anniversary commemorations of the liberation of Holland, where I saw tens of thousands of grateful Dutch citizens of all ages and generations waving the Canadian flag and celebrating our country.
Last week I was at the large Nazi transit camp out of which 100,000 Dutch Jews were shipped to places like Auschwitz, and saw Dutch Holocaust survivors thanking a Canadian vet who liberated them from that camp. These are incredibly important teaching moments and, I think, they inspire young people to pursue military service. I think these things matter to recruitment in and morale of our current forces. It's not just about nostalgia; it's actually about the morale of our current forces.
The cost altogether that we are setting aside for these commemorative exercises is $4 million for the last fiscal year and $3 million for this fiscal year, but I believe that Veterans Affairs Canada will also be contributing separately to these items.