Mr. Speaker, I commend my friend the hon. member for Medicine Hat on his remarks. I think he has very recent experience, having been on an army base and having done some training and experienced first-hand some of the difficulties and challenges.
I too want to bring this back to some facts and statistics that are important to keep in mind. The hon. member has done a great deal of work on the finance committee and would know that in the period of time since 1993 $7 billion has been taken out of defence spending. He would know that there are 18,000 fewer members of the Canadian armed forces and 10,000 fewer reservists over that same period of time of approximately 10 years.
My colleague the parliamentary secretary asked what more could we do. The Auditor General is saying that the current budgetary allowances are $1.3 billion short in terms of what is actually needed. With 40 year old Sea King helicopters and 30 year old frigates, the equipment itself is putting people at risk. Yet there are also domestic circumstances for which we need to bolster our armed forces. We know what happened with the floods in Manitoba and with the ice storm.
Does the hon. member feel that the current status of the Canadian armed forces is sufficient to perform even the domestic role that is required of the forces, let alone our international obligations?