Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague knows, I am a previous member of the defence committee and we have a grave concern for the soldiers who come back and their families.
Inside today's The Hill Times there is a big headline, “Disposable soldiers”. In a previous edition of The Hill Times, a gentleman by the name of Stephen White from Nova Scotia slammed Veterans Affairs for its care of the troops. Another one from Joyce Carter, a widow of a veteran, slammed the government for its broken promises.
Whether the troops come back today or in 2011, the reality is we have been told by the Auditor General and by the Surgeon General of DND that approximately one-third of the returning troops will have psychological or physical problems. The Auditor General said that there are not enough financial or human resources to care for them and their families.
The reality is we saw the headlines in Petawawa about children of those soldiers who died in Afghanistan who could not get the care they needed. It took headlines in an ombudsman report to get them the care.
We also know about the Dinning family whose son bravely lost his life in Afghanistan. It took an eight hour drive for them to come here to force the government to look after the funeral expenses.
The reality is the government promised so much more for veterans and returning soldiers and it completely let them down.
I would like my hon. colleague from the Bloc to explain why the government says it supports the troops but when the troops come back, that support seems to fall off rather rapidly.