Madam Speaker, let me first comment on the comment my colleague made about the Veterans Association Food Bank in Edmonton. I have visited that food bank on a couple of occasions to just check in with them to see how things are going for veterans. There are actually two veterans food banks in Edmonton. They both have trouble keeping the shelves stocked. I see that in communities all across this country. It should never be the case that we even need a veterans food bank, let alone that we cannot seem to find ways to keep the shelves stocked because the demand is so great.
To the point he raised, those who serve and have served see things like he mentioned, and they see that they are so underfunded. In some cases they are buying their own helmets. Can we imagine the ridiculousness of that? They are having to buy some of their own equipment because they cannot get it provided to them. We hear stories like the ones I have told about veterans who cannot get the benefits they are entitled to for years. Then we hear that the very thing those people went to fight against is receiving funding. There is so much more we could do to ensure our military members have the equipment and resources they need, so much more we could do to ensure our veterans have what they deserve. Instead, we send this money away to places.
It is just disgraceful. It is time we start to rechannel that into making sure our forces have what they need, into ensuring our veterans have what they need. That is going to have a big impact not just on the morale, which is an incredibly important thing, not just on our ability to be operationally ready in this country to do the job we need to do to defend this country, but also on our ability to work with other governments and to have Canada have a place of influence in the world. Right now, with the Prime Minister we have, Canada is not at the table at all. It is time for us to change that.