Madam Speaker, it is a huge honour to rise today to talk about issues related to veterans. We know that 75 years ago today, 359 Canadians were killed; 715 were wounded, and over 5,000 would die while fighting over the following two months in the liberation of France on D-Day.

Today, we took a moment to honour those who served for our country so that we could be here as members of Parliament and have the democratic system we have. We certainly need to recognize the heroism, the courage and the sacrifice of all soldiers, whether it be on D-Day or those who have served over many generations for our country. They will never be forgotten, lest we forget.

As we know, the right hon. Prime Minister, the leader of the NDP and other MPs are in France today. It brings us back to our veterans, who have shown courage and sacrifice while serving our country. It reminds us to never forget the sacrifices of those who served over many years in the history of our country, but also those who have come home recently.

In fact, Master Corporal Kevin Pavan from my riding and his 13-year-old son Laken are in France with elected officials to honour those who sacrificed. I am glad Laken is there, because it will help him ensure that the next generation will never forget those who sacrificed. When they come home, we know it is our sacred obligation to take care of those who served our country and put their lives at risk for our freedom.

New Democrats raised a concern about veterans who have served and are not getting adequate benefits for the most extreme disabilities, which are between 3% and 5%. We need to ensure that those veterans get the full benefits they were promised by the Liberal government in the last election.

We have learned, since I asked the question, that the government is promising that all of those veterans will get more than they were promised. We want to hear the details. I am hoping tonight the government will talk a little about those important details. We want to ensure that veterans are getting the support they deserve.

I had the honour and privilege of serving as the NDP's critic for veterans affairs, and I must say it was one of the greatest honours of my life. As the member of Parliament for Courtenay—Alberni, I am committed to never stopping the fight for our veterans and the rights and benefits they are entitled to, and I will continue to work on that.

We were able to do some good work in the House when I was the critic, with all parties working collectively. All political parties unanimously supported a motion to end lapsed spending, to ensure that all of the money that gets carried over from year to year will go to the service standards that the government is not meeting. Right now, it is only meeting 25% of the service standards it set for itself. That clearly is a failure, so we have a lot of work to do.

We were also able to ensure that if veterans marry over 60 years of age, their spouses can get the benefits they deserve. These are important measures that the government is moving forward, but we have a lot of work to do. Today is a reminder of all the work we need to do and how important it is that we put our veterans first.

Gord Johns

$597,018.00