Thank you for your question.
Yes, I would say to this that we've been seeing some trends in the global security environment for some time now. While we didn't necessarily predict what's happening in Ukraine, I think what is happening is pretty consistent with the trends we had identified and with the analysis we've been doing of global competition, which I mentioned during my opening remarks, and how we're really entering what we would call a “new phase of global competition”.
In terms of what that means for Canada, I would say that in the Arctic, we still don't necessarily see an immediate military threat to Canada's Arctic, but the region is changing quite dramatically both from a physical perspective and a geopolitical perspective.
On the physical side of things, it brings some pretty practical challenges. There is increasing activity, which could lead to increasing demands on the Canadian Armed Forces to conduct more safety and security-type operations, search and rescue operations. Also on the practical side, climate change is dramatically reducing the permafrost, which has implications for northern infrastructure. Those all need to be taken into account.
From the geopolitical side, I think Russia is obviously the most capable Arctic military actor. They're rapidly modernizing and building up their forces. China has declared itself a near-Arctic state and is also developing some capabilities that are capable of challenging Canadian interests in the Arctic over the long term.