Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
My congratulations and thanks, Ambassador Mearns, for taking on this very critical role at this particular time in our history. I think it's very important, and we're grateful for your service to the country.
Mr. Sinclair, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge your decades of service to our country and your new role as well.
If I may, I'm going to direct a question to you, Mr. Sinclair, because it's part of the pragmatic policy approach of the pillars that were identified in our Arctic foreign policy.
We talked about the establishment of new consulates in both Nuuk and Anchorage. On the surface, it sounds like an entirely reasonable thing to do, but I'm sure you've given a great deal of thought to what we would hope to accomplish by establishing a diplomatic consular presence in those two neighbouring countries. They're both very different and very important to us. At the same time, I'm sure you have given it more thought.
What would be the metrics that we might apply to determine whether or not those investments, as important as they appear to us, are in fact being effective in helping us to deliver on what it is we intend to achieve? I will leave it to both of you to perhaps comment on the decision to put consulates in those two places, as well as what we hope to achieve and how we would measure our success.