Mr. Speaker, during Veterans Week, we owe our veterans and the men and women who serve in the Canadian Armed Forces our deepest respect and gratitude for the sacrifices they make to defend our freedoms.
Unfortunately, the Liberal government should be ashamed of itself. Instead of helping our veterans, they make multi-million dollar secret payments to convicted terrorists, like Omar Khadr. Now, the Liberals claim they were forced to give Khadr millions of Canadian taxpayer dollars because the courts made them do it. However, we know that the Liberals were never ordered by the court to make al Qaeda terrorist Omar Khadr a multi-millionaire.
The Liberals chose to give him that money. That stands in stark contrast to the treatment they are giving our veterans. The Liberals did not leap at the chance to help our vets after realizing they were being shortchanged on their benefits for years. In fact, it will take another two more years for our veterans to be compensated.
How can the Liberals justify this deplorable behaviour? A convicted terrorist gets a $10.5-million cheque from the Liberals, and our veterans who sacrificed for Canada are told they are “asking for more than we are able to give.” That is shameful.