Interoperability is absolutely critical because, when it comes to international, multinational operations, Canada rarely does things on its own. We always go places with allies, but our needs are also somewhat different from those of our allies.
For instance, French frigates are not designed to be able to stay at sea for six months at a time. Given where we are located geostrategically, we need to make sure that the equipment we have can deliver on the specific Canadian needs that we have, which are somewhat different from those of several of our allies.
Yes to interoperability, but we also need to focus on the particular Canadian contribution and how we have used national defence, I think, in a very politically savvy way over decades as a force maximizer for Canadian foreign policy. We need to understand that when we talk about national defence, when we talk about the Canadian Armed Forces, we are talking about an instrument of foreign policy and argument, the single most important instrument of foreign policy that a federal government has at its disposal.