Thank you, Minister, and thank you, General, for being here.
In the 2018-19 estimates, you asked Parliament to authorize expenditures not exceeding $4,363,061,570, which is $297 million or 6.4% less than you requested in the previous fiscal year.
We know that there's a tremendous backlog of applications for nearly every program administered by Veterans Affairs Canada. You're missing half of your own targets, including applications for the rehabilitation program, which is backlogged; applications for the long-term care program, backlogged; the career transition program, backlogged; earnings loss benefit, backlogged. The war veterans allowance is backlogged, and of course, there is the monster backlog in the processing of applications for disability benefits.
There are 3,000-plus who have been waiting for more than a year—as my friend Mr. Kitchen outlined—to get the help they need, while your own target is to process these applications in just 16 weeks.
Given these backlogs and the lack of basic services for veterans and their families, why did your department request less money from the treasury this year than last? Shouldn't you be asking the treasury for more money overall until these application backlogs are finally cleared?