Madam Speaker, when the Conservative government was in power, it upheld a tax system that was not working for everyday Canadians. It supported tax havens that we saw benefited the wealthy and it supported CEO stock option loopholes. In the meantime, that Conservative government ran a deficit of $160 billion. On its pathway to balancing the budget, it upheld a tax system that benefited the rich. Its cuts were on the backs of everyday Canadians and those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, our veterans.
I have a lot of respect for the member because he has stood up for veterans. He has called for support for veterans and he was the veterans affairs minister. Under the Conservative watch, a thousand staff at Veterans Affairs were fired. That has resulted in a backlog that has affected veterans, whose disability applications are unopened and are waiting to be addressed in a timely fashion. Of course, this Liberal government promised to fix that.
Does the member regret cutting the thousand staff at Veterans Affairs, which has created this enormous backlog and has inhibited veterans from getting the services they rightfully deserve?