Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from my friend and colleague from Hamilton, with whom I sit on the veterans affairs committee. We work together, but I refute that statement. When the Conservatives fired 1,000 caseworkers, and the backlog has grown by over 60% in a year and a half, and we read the report from the ombudsman, it is not just about veterans learning about programs. The government is not fixing the backlog that was created by the Conservative cuts. The government is also failing to deal with essential services. We even heard from the bureaucracy, through a report straight to the minister, that it is having a hard time providing essential services for veterans. The government then goes out and announces program after program without properly and adequately resourcing the department to deliver those services.
The right thing for the government to do is to not leave over $370 million on the table, but to use that money not just to hire caseworkers to help deal with the backlog, but to hire them back permanently. Veterans deserve that. They need some certainty. People serving in the military who are set to leave need to know there is certainty in Veterans Affairs, that they are going to get the support and follow-up they deserve. Therefore, the right thing for the government to do is hire back those employees, then resource the department adequately for all the new programs it has announced and not leave any money on the table.
We do not buy it, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table to go back to treasury. That money needs to be spent. If Veterans Affairs runs out of money, it can come back to Parliament and ask for supply to support it. I am certain the House would support that.