Mr. Chair, as the minister knows, I have the great honour to represent the men and women who work so hard at one of Canada's busiest air wings in the country and that is CFB Trenton 8 Wing.
The Canada first defence strategy outlines infrastructure as one of its pillars. We know that National Defence is one of the largest landowners across Canada and the budget cuts of the 1990s under the previous Liberal government significantly impacted on the defence infrastructure across the country.
This Conservative government has begun the crucial task of re-equipping our forces. For example, the C-17s that our government bought and now fly out of Trenton are a vital link to our supply of material to Afghanistan. They were a crucial and integral part of our government's response to the earthquake in Haiti.
Alas, a lot of our military infrastructure is old and not designed for today's equipment.
Could the minister tell us what this Conservative government is doing to ensure that the airmen and airwomen at CFB Trenton and CFB members on other bases are getting the infrastructure they need to do the vital jobs we ask of them? Could the minister also explain to members of the committee what he is doing to ensure proper accountability and spending of taxpayers' money?