Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for his service to our country and for his work on veterans affairs. As a former minister, he knows full well how complicated the veterans affairs file is. It is not something we can do on the side of our desk and think we will get the job done. There are over 700,000 veterans in our country. The Minister of National Defence is leading the largest department in our country. For him to think he is just going to do this on the corner of his desk is an absolute insult.
The government needs to prioritize getting a capable minister in place. The Liberals have failed to live up to their promises. They are only meeting half of their own government-set service standards. They are literally in a place of chaos. It is a mess at Veterans Affairs. Veterans are falling through the cracks. The PBO report yesterday was just another example of the Liberals' broken promises. In fact, I would argue that the Liberals need to apologize to veterans for their broken promise.
The PBO report outlined this as the member knows. The member has been great advocate for Sean Bruyea and he has been calling on the government to apologize to him. He was vilified yesterday by the truth that Mr. Bruyea was speaking. The government owes him an apology and it needs to hire a full-time veterans affairs minister.
If our military members who are serving right now see how they are being treated as veterans, what an insult that is. This is certainly not the way to inspire and motivate the people who put their lives on the line.
I appreciate the member's advocacy. I want to call on the government to do the right thing and appoint a minister immediately. Let us get to work.