Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives keep saying they are doing enough, but soldiers, their families, and even the National Defence Ombudsman say they need to do a lot more. I trust the soldiers who say government is letting them down at the very moment it is needed the most.
The Conservatives have still not implemented the 36 recommendations of the 2009 national defence committee report on PTSD. They have not studied the report, and there is no evidence that there has been any analysis of that report to track its implementation.
Not long ago, more than 50% of Canadian Forces bases did not even have a psychiatrist, and 40% had neither a psychiatrist nor a psychologist. The families of these injured soldiers come to Ottawa to tell us that they are not getting the support they require. My recent access to information request uncovered the fact that Colonel McLean made a very strong case for the National Defence to hire uniformed clinical psychologists, and that was just not done.
Our military personnel deserve better. They deserve to be cared for after the front-line sacrifices they have made to preserve freedom in Canada.