Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
As a lifelong northerner and someone who once grew up in a community that was only supplied by a barge, I understand and appreciate the concerns that you've raised, Mr. Zebedee. I appreciate everything that you've said here. What I would say in that regard is that we obviously don't have much to brag about. If we are going to make this a focus of our Arctic Council discussions over the next two years, showing and telling the failings of the Canadian transportation system throughout the Arctic, I think the leaves a little bit to be desired in terms of our foreign policy.
The Arctic Council really is the only place where international agreements are being worked on on a regular basis, whether they be the environment or shipping. In the political vein, the Arctic Council remains a very important international body to deal with issues between states. I think there's something that we've been discussing over the past number of meetings in that particular regard.
I agree entirely with your presentation. I wish you would have made it to the northern development committee hearings that were held by the natural resources committee a few months ago, because they needed to hear what you have said—they really did—and I thank you very much for it.
Mr. McDorman, you say that there's no crisis in the Arctic and that the maritime boundaries issues are not significant. Yet everybody is positioning on them. The United States in the last four years has put forward fishing regulations in the disputed area. They have also put forward regulations around air emissions from oil and gas developments in that region. They include it as part of their maritime responsibility. So we see the United States as actively establishing authority over that area, which is not matched by Canada. In fact, Canada had to send diplomatic letters to the United States over these issues. I don't know if they did it on the air emissions, but they certainly did it on the fishing issue, as revealed in Parliament. These things are not static but are moving.
I have a question for you on the disposition of the Arctic Ocean. There's a doughnut hole in the Arctic right now, in the Arctic Ocean. Perhaps you could explain how that works. You might want to comment on the other things as well.