Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the officials for being here.
When the Prime Minister gave his speech in Davos, he talked about finding, depending on what the issue is, those economic and security partners. We know that a lot of those middle powers and partners are in the Asia-Pacific region. We also know that democratic countries where there is a robust civic space, the rule of law and human rights make better partners, both for economics and for security. I note that the NATO Parliamentary Assembly has tied open democracies to security, and that democratic resilience is a security issue.
I wonder if I could first go to the CAF and DND officials to talk about whether, in our Indo-Pacific strategy, we are looking at that link between open societies and security. I'd then like to hear from the GAC officials.