Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Jonquière for giving me five minutes of her time.
When the Speech from the Throne was given I think most Canadians were very disturbed and disappointed, mostly because the government left out our military.
We had hoped and expected that the Prime Minister would have taken into account the pleas of our international allies, the Secretary-General of NATO, the Conference of Defence Associations, the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs, the Auditor General and the countless men and women in uniform who have made the case that our military is in need of financial assistance. All of them have come forth in the last four years saying that it is time for the government to put some money into the military.
We just have to look at what happened a year ago in the U.S.A. When the terrorists struck there were we prepared? No. When we sent our men over to Afghanistan they had to be airlifted by the Americans. They had to eat their meals at the American mess. If our men were out training and the mess was closed they had nothing to eat. I was getting calls from the parents of the young men who were sent over there. They did not even have their uniforms like the rest of them had.
Look at us today, Mr. Speaker. Look at the Sea Kings. They are 40 years old. A pilot from just outside my city lost his life. His father called me because he had been a pilot. He said “Elsie, I flew those Sea Kings. Those Sea Kings should not be in the air”. They should not be in the air.
I have to say that it is strictly politics. I can see politics being played by the government in the replacement of the Sea Kings. It wants to wait until the Prime Minister retires and then he will not have to worry whether the EH-101s become the replacement. However, while the government waits more lives will be lost.
Let us look at our submarines. My God, we went out and bought used submarines. What happened? Just in the past month in London, England our Canadian people were ask to go over to England and test the submarine. They were fixing it over there. The men said that there was no way they would go out and test the submarine because it was not safe. It is still sitting over there because the men will not go out in that submarine. We have just wasted another $800 million on submarines that are now not useful and not good for the navy.
Let us look at our air force and the numbers in the army. At one time we had 85,000 people. Where are we now? We are at around 30,000 people.