Thank you for that, and good morning to the members of the committee.
On the general point of our security dialogue with the Americans, I think the members of the committee are aware that this is both broad and deep, and it covers both continental defence and our shared interest in the Euro-Atlantic region and the stability of that zone.
With respect to ballistic missile defence, you've correctly captured the history of that. I would say that as the global security environment has evolved—and the North Korean missile threat is one that we are tracking extremely closely, particularly with respect to the pacing of their testing, which suggests advances in their capabilities—we continue to examine whether our current policy regarding participation in continental BMD addresses Canadian safety and security interests. You are correct that as part of the defence policy review, the defence department and Mr. Sajjan consulted Canadians on this question. As you are probably aware, that review is currently being concluded, so it will be for ministers to decide how to pronounce on this particular issue. Among the things that we weigh for this issue are questions such as the nature and severity of the threat, the question of what Canadian involvement could bring to bear on that system, and, indeed, whether or not there is a request of Canada to make a contribution to that.
Could I say a few words on the dialogue that is ongoing with respect to defence spending more generally? You've raised it, and I know it's a subject of real interest in the public domain. The new American administration has taken a very strong view, as you know, with respect to the NATO target of 2% of GDP defence spending. Canada's view on this has been and remains that burden sharing, within the alliance and more generally, cannot be measured solely in the number of dollars that are spent on defence. How you spend your money is at least as important as how much money you spend. In that regard, we consider capabilities to be first and foremost, and our contributions to alliance operations to be the real measure.
On this front, Canada has, as you know, contributed to every NATO mission since the alliance was established 68 years ago. We're now taking a lead in Eastern Europe with the leadership of a battle group in Latvia as part of the enhanced forward presence in Eastern and Central Europe, and we are the sixth-largest contributor to the alliance. We feel the need to take the view that we have consistently shown our capability and readiness and willingness to assume a very large share of the NATO burden, both within the alliance and in its expeditionary missions, and that remains unchanged. I expect this to be a focus of discussion when leaders meet in May, and Canada looks forward to those discussions with allies.
Thanks.