Mr. Speaker, in 2011, when the Harper government won its majority mandate, VAC spending was $3.6 billion a year. In 2015, when that government was replaced by a Liberal government, VAC spending started out at $3.6 billion a year. Within two years, in the 2017-18 budget, VAC spending will be $4.9 billion, an increase of almost 30%.
Why did the previous Harper government never find it in its budgets to increase spending for VAC?