This is the problem, Mr. Speaker. They do not like the truth. The truth hurts with regard to what happened three years ago in relation to not following law and order. There are some members on that side, by the way, who come from the public sector prosecution office; they come from law enforcement. That party should absolutely be about those principles. but the Conservatives are falling into this trap.
Again, they could hold the government to account once the allegations were found by the Auditor General about what the political representation was doing, but they should not blur the lines. It is dangerous rhetoric in this country. It is not helpful, and it actually does not even reflect the true reality of what the government is doing to resolve the situation.
I do want to take my time. I want to take the opportunity. This is about procurement. We have a secretary of state now, explicitly for defence procurement. While we are talking about procurement and defence, it is important to recognize what the Prime Minister and this government announced this week, which is a commitment to get to 2% of GDP defence spending, as per NATO guidelines, by the end of this fiscal year, and I think that this is extremely important. I would hope that all members of this House agree that this is good public policy.
We heard that the Bloc, for example, during debate earlier this week, actually supported this concept. The Conservatives have talked about this for a long time. I would like to see a little more enthusiasm from their benches about the fact that this is good public policy because, to be honest, consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments did not take this question seriously enough. Our Prime Minister is taking this question seriously. This government is taking this question seriously.
Here is the thing that is often forgotten. The Conservative Party, when it was leaving office in 2015, had defence spending below 1% of GDP. The Conservative opposition members stand up in this House, and I give them credit because they should be raising issues of the Canadian Armed Forces, as it is important across the board, but they forget that they did not leave the cupboard very full when they left government, did they? Every single year since 2015, the Liberal government has increased defence spending on an actual GDP percentage basis, and now we are going to be able to get to 2%. We should be celebrating that. There may have to be more investment. NATO is now looking at a target of perhaps 3.5% of GDP. This is important, but we do have to get procurement right.
There are lessons to be learned, whether it is with this opposition day motion, about government efficiency and the way government operates and procures. It has to be faster, and it has to be more agile. We have to be able to get results with the way the government is spending. Those things are important. This government is also committed to balancing the operational budget within three years.
We hear the Conservatives stand up and rail on about fiscal discipline. I believe in the importance of that. I am glad that they are raising this and that there is an accountability function. However, what they forget is that they just ran on a platform to have well over $120 billion of deficit spending. Pardon me when I sit here in this House and listen to the Conservatives' narrative talking about government spending and not recognizing that.
Whether it is the Canadian Armed Forces, additional investment in housing or building the major projects that have to get done and catalyzing private investment, we are in a moment when, particularly on the capital side of government investment, we have to continue to invest to drive our economy forward, to reduce our reliance on the United States and to find other trade markets and other economic opportunities. That level of nuance in the debate is never actually highlighted from the opposition benches, and that is what is, in my mind, so frustrating moving forward.
Again, the Secretary of State for Defence Procurement has a really important job, which is to make sure that the investments the government is putting forward result in material difference on the ground. I have a number of Canadian Armed Forces bases in my riding, 14 Wing Greenwood being one that I would certainly like to recognize. I thank the honourable members of the Canadian air force and the Canadian Armed Forces who are located there. They do tremendous work.
We have to be able to scale up. I had the opportunity to talk to the local base commander and the mayor from the municipality of Kings county this week, very briefly, about the way we can work on partnerships to build more housing for the Canadian Armed Forces, but also more housing for the general community in Greenwood and in Kingston. That is extremely important. It matters for the broader community, and it matters for CAF members. The investment that the government is making and committing to this week is going to help support those types of concepts. We also have to make sure that we increase pay to our Canadian Armed Forces members to protect retention and ensure a very strong force moving forward. This is something that all members of Parliament, regardless of partisan affiliation, should be willing to support. It is a crucial moment for the country.
I think I have recognized in my speech that the issues being raised by the opposition are serious and that they require some level of due diligence, which has happened over the course of the entire year, but we have big, major issues before the country that we have to tackle. It is a bit surprising to me that the opposition has used today's opposition motion when the government is in court with GC Strategies, when the government does have a process to try to recoup money from GC Strategies and when there are processes and recommendations being followed from the Auditor General. I listened to many hours of Conservative debate, and none of that is being recognized.
We have major national projects to build in this country. We have a one Canadian economy bill and defence spending. Those are the issues that Canadians want us to be focused on. I would invite the Conservatives to join us on the real issues that matter before us here today.