Mr. Speaker, clearly, this government does not understand anything. The final report of the Elliot Lake inquiry underlined the critical importance of having quality heavy urban search and rescue teams in Canada. Since there are only five such teams in the entire country, it is pretty unrealistic to assume that they will all be located in the same province.
Unfortunately rather than improve these services, in 2012 the Conservatives cut funding for the program that supports these units across the country. We know that budget 2012 was full of indiscriminate budget cuts in order for the Conservatives to accumulate surpluses to fund a pre-election spending spree. If Canadians had to choose between pre-election goodies and heavy urban search and rescue teams, I am sure they would make the right choice.
I will ask the question again: will the minister take into account the recommendation that came out of the Elliot Lake inquiry and restore funding for heavy urban search and rescue response in order to save lives in the event of a disaster?