Madam Speaker, if the hon. member is being completely honest with this Parliament, he will understand that most of the military budget is scheduled for four or five years from now. The defence department has been asked to give $178 million back this year and $258 million the following year. That represents a drawback of $436 million, which almost equals the same amount that the government is pledging to it this year.
If the Liberals were to be completely honest with Canadians and the men and women of our military, they would say they would be getting x number of dollars, but it would be five years down the road, and in the meantime they have to give back x number of dollars as well.
My question is with respect to the Coast Guard funding of $275 million over a period of time to replace our Coast Guard vessels. There is a desperate need in this country to replace some of our military vessels, our ferry fleet, our laker fleet, and just as important, our Coast Guard fleet. We were glad to see the government taking some small step toward improving that, but my fear is that the government will purchase those ships from other countries thus using taxpayers' dollars to assist those other countries.
We are asking the government to commit to its 2001 report called “Breaking Through: Canadian Shipbuilding Industry” and prepare a shipbuilding policy for Canada so that taxpayers' dollars would go toward assisting Canadian shipyards and workers. The government did this for the auto industry and the aerospace sector.
Will the member commit his government to investing in and ensuring that the ships that are required by our Coast Guard will definitely be built in Canada?