Madam Speaker, I very much appreciate the opportunity to address what I know is a very important issue. As I have indicated, I had the honour of serving in the Canadian Forces for just over three years. One of the most memorable things I experienced was meeting with and marching with World War II veterans. We learn a lot in the different discussions we have with veterans.
Spouses of veterans play an absolutely critical role in providing the types of supports that go far beyond, I would suggest, in many ways, a more typical marriage. There is a profound impact on individuals who have been through war, whether World War II, the war in Afghanistan or other wars Canada has been engaged in over the years. War has a profound impact on soldiers who are returning, and family members often have to make significant sacrifices in order to cater to the needs of that returning soldier. I have a deep amount of respect for the family unit, and in particular the spouses of veterans.
Having said that, before I go into details on this, I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight why we are having this particular debate today and maybe express a bit of my frustration. As we are talking about veterans and the Canadian Forces, one of the government bills we introduced quite a while ago for debate would have had a very significant impact on our Canadian Forces and those who are serving today. We talk about survivor benefits and how this impacts women disproportionately by a long shot. The legislation we introduced would have taken issues related to sexual harassment and exploitation out of military courts and put them into civilian courts. That is one aspect of a number of pieces of legislation that the government has been trying to get through.
Unfortunately, what we have seen for the last number of weeks, and I think it has been eight or nine weeks now, is a Conservative opposition that has made the decision to play a multi-million dollar game here on the floor of the House of Commons. It has decided to play a very destructive, self-serving game for the leader of the Conservative Party, and it is at a substantial cost.
As a direct result, different debates have been taking place. I do not blame the NDP, because if its members did not bring forward this particular concurrence motion, we would likely be debating another Conservative concurrence vote.