Mr. Speaker, I would like to introduce some facts rather than fiction to this question of resources for the Border Services Agency. It is an important question.
I agree with the premise of the last question from the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley, which was that resources are necessary to enforce the law. That is precisely why, since taking office, the current government has increased the budgetary allocation to the CBSA by 27%, an increase of $387 million, and has increased by 26% the number of full-time equivalent personnel at the agency.
It is true that this huge increase would be offset by a relatively modest decrease, but when all of those changes are implemented in 2015, the net effect will be a significant increase. My estimate is that there will be about 15% more border service agents then than there were a few years ago, and significantly more resources, both in real and absolute terms.
When the estimates, the public accounts, the CBSA planning and priorities and all of these public documents indicate higher resources, would the member explain to me why the NDP maintains that there have actually been cuts? I just do not understand why those members are making that up.