Mr. Chair, I am from Calgary where we have always had a pretty strong pride in and support of our men and women in uniform, and are particularly proud of them these days. It is great to be here.
We no longer have a base in Calgary. Some years ago it was moved to Edmonton by the Liberals. People think it was because of the national energy program for some reason, but we do not like Liberals because they moved our base away from Calgary.
We do support the troops. A couple of years back, we took 100 cowboys and cowgirls from Calgary to the Quebec winter carnival to put on a barbecue and western entertainment for 4,000 of the families of troops at Valcartier, the Van Doos, who had just been deployed to Afghanistan. It was a moving time.
I wanted to ask the minister about that. While we were at Valcartier entertaining those troops with our Calgary hospitality, I learned about Defence Research and Development Canada, the DRDC Valcartier, with its 400 employees and rich network of partners, and world leading expertise in defence-related information, protection and combat systems.
The research activities carried out at this facility help ensure that Canadian Forces are equipped with cutting-edge technology and directly impact their operations at home and abroad.
I understand that concrete steps have been taken to ensure that DRDC Valcartier maintains its world-class expertise and continues to attract the best scientists, and partners in the defence and security field to Quebec by investing in a major infrastructure upgrade at the facility.
Could the minister please fill us in on the particulars of that important project?