Mr. Speaker, I will reference the announcement made the other day that $650 million will be spent overseas. In no way am I devaluing that money and in no way am I devaluing what the government is doing, but the reality is that there are people here at home that could use that money. Organizations and vulnerable sectors of our society could use that money here at home.
We are talking today about the brave men and women who serve our country. On the one hand the government is clawing back $1,500 to $1,800 from them and saying they signed up, volunteered, but someone in Ottawa has decided that, sorry, they are not at enough risk. What message does that send? What value proposition message does that send to our brave men and women that they are not worthy of that? They can read the newspapers and listen to the media as much as anybody else. They know that their paycheques are less yet they are still doing the same work that they were asked to do. They are still in harm's way regardless of whether some bureaucrat in Ottawa says it is not as risky as it was first thought. They are still at risk. They are still not at home with their families. They see the value going out the door. They see the money that is being spent overseas, yet it is not going toward helping to protect them and their families. That is shameful.