Mr. Speaker, according to this week's Auditor General report, the Liberal government continues to fall short on getting the Canadian Armed Forces the personnel and equipment it needs to succeed. The report shows that the military is short 7,000 housing units, and the plans to build more are woefully insufficient. Only one in 13 people who apply to join completes the process, but we are short 13,000 troops. This will see an 81% shortage in critical trades for over 10 years.
The more we discuss this at the defence committee, the worse it gets. Yesterday, I confirmed that despite creating a whole new bureaucracy to streamline military procurement, led by a banker friend of the Prime Minister who may have multiple conflicts of interest, the new Defence Investment Agency will not deal with the F-35 project, the largest military procurement in Canadian history. According to the Secretary of State for Defence Procurement, the F-35 report is complete and in the Prime Minister's hands, but the decision is still under review.
How much longer must the air force wait for the fighter jets it desperately needs? Our military embodies leadership and decisive action. When will the Liberals?