Mr. Chairman, page 8 of part III of the 1993-94 estimates says $12.8 billion, which is higher than the budget today even in nominal terms without adjusting for inflation or the purchasing power for military equipment which has gone up faster than inflation.
Whatever figure is used from the 2002-03 estimates compared to the 1993-94 estimates still indicates that we are actually spending less today than we were back when the government took office. When an adjustment for inflation is made and we look at the cost increases of military supplies and equipment specifically, that makes the comparison that much more unfavourable when we look at today's budget. That decrease in spending is quite dramatic when we take those factors into account.
The minister keeps saying that we are spending $5 billion more on the military today and this is a cumulative figure. I would like to ask how much is actually being added to the budget base over this period of the next five years?