Madam Speaker, I know the member speaks from experience. He has had very close liaison with the military bases in his riding. He has spent a number of days examining their situation and listening carefully. The defence committee has travelled to Esquimalt and we have seen firsthand the problems that have arisen. I say problems because those problems need not be there had the government been paying attention to the military, its needs and acting on those needs a long time ago. But it chose not to do it.
Morale plays a big role in the military. The government makes wonderful announcements about the pay raises it has given the military, 3.2% the most recent, 2.2% previously and 1.5% going back to 1996 and .6%. Yet I am going to ask the member what kind of pay is the military going to actually realize when it looks at all the clawbacks in Canada pension, in tax, employment insurance and will it be all that much better off with what it has now or does it need something better like tax relief.