Mr. Speaker, in the February budget the defence minister announced the closure of CFB Chilliwack, the only land force base in British Columbia. Yet in a memo marked secret and prepared for DND just prior to that announcement, land forces command made the following observations: "Land forces command requires an army base to support the domestic operations in B.C. LFC feels Chilliwack is ideally suited to fulfil those operations. The closure of CFB Chilliwack should be opposed and CFB Chilliwack should be retained".
Why did the minister ignore the advice of his own officials and choose to close B.C.'s only land forces base, CFB Chilliwack?