Mr. Speaker, if I could, I will focus in on the cuts at veterans affairs for a moment.
There is no question that good paying permanent jobs have a multiplier effect in the community in terms of the economic impact. There was an excellent study done by one Canada's leading law firms, McInnes Cooper, with respect to the economic impact of the job cuts on Prince Edward Island. A lot of the statistics that I cited came from that study.
With regard to Veterans Affairs, the government does not justify the cuts by saying it has to balance the books, although we know it is balancing the books on the backs of veterans. What it says is that traditional veterans are dying and therefore its needs to change the way it delivers services.
The Auditor General, in his report of last week, indicated that Veterans Affairs' forecasts did not take into account information about the increasing number of Canadian Forces members with mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Basically what he said was the basis on which the cuts were happening at Veterans Affairs was flawed.