Mr. Speaker, at least today the defence minister is acknowledging that $29 billion is the right figure. That is some progress, but the Canadian Alliance has called for $2 billion to be added this year to the defence budget base.
The House of Commons committee and the Senate committee have asked for substantial increases in defence spending and yet the government continues to add just a small portion of what the parliamentary committees have called for.
The government has shown that defence spending is a low priority and it is not willing to commit to what the House defence committee and the Senate committee have called for. Why?