Yes.
I think one needs to see the provision of infrastructure and services in the Northwest Passage in terms of several possible benefits. One is obviously in relation to having a presence to provide environmental protection and protection against non-security threats. Think about smuggling or illegal immigration coming from ships that may be entering our waters.
The other thing is that in terms of our sovereignty, our claim that the Northwest Passage constitutes internal waters, the more we can get foreign shipping to accept our jurisdiction, the better off we will be. The best way to get foreign ships to accept our jurisdiction is to provide them with necessary services: to provide them with ports of refuge, to provide them with world-class charts, world-class weather forecasting, world-class ice forecasting, to provide them with world-class search and rescue—in other words, to make Canada an absolutely essential component of their shipping plans.
I have been to conferences with the executives of major Asian shipping companies who are almost desperate to partner with the Canadian government in building up this kind of infrastructure. They don't want to work against us, because they know their ships and crews will need us in some instances, so I'd like to see us step forward on this.
Further to this, because you spoke about Russia and the northern sea route, our legal position in the Northwest Passage is identical to the Russian legal position in the northern sea route. I think as part of our diplomacy in the Arctic more generally, we should seek to identify those commonalities with the Russian government, while of course being cautious about the Russian government in other domains. There was an American president who said “Trust, but verify”. I think there's an opportunity for that with Russia in the Arctic.