I've been talking about this for some time. Part of our sovereignty claim—and I've heard Professor Lackenbauer and previous witnesses say they don't even like us talking about this—and part of the Canadian insecurity is about our lack of presence in our north. That lack of presence doesn't exist for our partners in the north. Their northern stretch has 0.5% of our population and 40% of our land mass.
I've proposed a few times that the federal government, through National Defence, put in infrastructure and follow up with what former prime minister Harper did for Nanisivik. Many airports are worried about a lack of service because of a lack of runways. We should put in infrastructure dollars as part of an overall NATO 2% plan that also includes infrastructure in the Arctic, which has the by-product advantage of helping exert our presence in the north.
What are your thoughts on that approach?