Mr. Chair, this cap the member refers to is rather an escalator, and that does not do justice to the facts.
If we look at the public accounts for the current expenditures of the department, over and above this 2% escalator that has accompanied each and every budget for this department since 2006, we have invested a total of over $4 billion in new funding for the department for initiatives to support priorities such as aboriginal economic development, first nations education, first nations child and family services, and on-reserve infrastructure.
When this additional funding is added to ongoing annual funding, the department will have spent a total of more than $76 billion since 2006.