Mr. Speaker, that was a very appropriate ruling. I know members on the other side are very delicate, very sensitive, when it comes to the process of democracy and the hep C vote was one example.
I just came out of the defence committee too and it is the same process. It is a top down process. Here we had a bill trying to correct the justice system within the military and it was all dictated up here and down at the committee. They sat there like a bunch of trained seals, clapping when they were asked to clap, jumping when they were asked to jump. That is the committee and that is the committee process that has to change.
To answer the member's question, he says Reform wants to cut $1 billion out of the defence budget. How little he knows about Reform policy. How little he understands even his own party's policy when it comes to the military.
The Liberal government wants to chop $2 billion from this budget, down from $9.2 billion. The Reform, recognizing that there is a strong need to support our men and women in the Canadian military, wants to increase this budget to $11 billion. That will take care of the procurement problems and the rusting out equipment. That will take care of some of the social problems and complaints.
The government has had five years to correct the problems. For five years it let the military suffer. For five years it allowed housing away below substandard to exist in which to put military families, five years and there was no consideration of the social needs of military families. That is where the fault lies and there is the answer to the member's question.