Mr. Speaker, for a government that is trying so desperately to distance itself from Jean Chrétien, I do not know why this minister and this government keep re-announcing long overdue commitments that were made by the Chrétien administration last fall.
When he was chairman of the defence committee the minister said, and I quote, “...what is critically needed at this point is increases to that base budget so that funding will be sustained over the years to come”.
Now that he is minister, why has he failed so miserably to convince the Prime Minister to keep his promise to provide sufficient funds for our troops?