Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives believe that our men and women in uniform deserve the best equipment, training, and support available. That requires substantial investments to be made today, not 20 years from now. Unfortunately, we have learned that the majority of the funding in the defence policy will not be available until after the next election, when we are government, and the government will not tell us where it will come from. The Liberals are running huge deficits. They will have to go into deficit to do any of the spending they have said they will do. It is still underfunded compared to what the military needs. In fact, one of the witnesses at the Standing Committee on National Defence today said that we would have to come up to the 2% if it was to carry the weight that was expected of it, not only to defend our country and sovereignty but to participate in NATO as well.
The parliamentary secretary talked about procurement on navy ships. It is a mess, especially on the Surface Combatants. The Arctic offshore patrol vessels, the Harry DeWolf class, which started under the Conservatives, are the only ships being delivered on time.
The Conservative Party knows the joint support ships, along with the Surface Combatants, are being delayed because of interference from the government. That is why we say we need another interim auxiliary oil replenishment ship built by Davie to fill the gaps that have been created by the Liberals.