Mr. Speaker, June 4 is Canadian Forces Day, a time to honour the courageous work our Canadian Forces members do day in and day out here at home and abroad, and the sacrifices their families make.
During the last Parliament, when in government we worked with the chief of the defence staff, General Hillier, whom we appointed, to arrive at a new vision for our forces of a versatile, combat capable force. We funded it to the tune of 13.5 billion extra dollars over five years.
The current government has put in $5.3 billion for five years. It has cancelled the Hercs. It forced this Parliament to vote on the extension of the troop mission to Afghanistan without giving us the chance to do due diligence for our troops by getting the information we needed to make an intelligent decision for them.
We will continue to commit to do our duty for the troops to ensure their security and care. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for what they and their families do day in and day out for our entire country.