Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank all the witnesses for their presentations.
Mr. Onalik and Mr. Walsh, at the end of April, the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, or CanNor, participated in a conference as part of the symposium on Nunavut mines.
Mr. Onalik, at the time, you felt that the government should take advantage of existing mining facilities to strengthen security in Canada's far north, particularly port and air mining infrastructure.
Let's agree that we still have to be vigilant when it comes to China's interest, in particular, in acquiring critical minerals and infrastructure in the Arctic.
We know that it wants to do so, and we know that it has a strategy in place that, in many cases, has been successful.
We also know that Canada is often used in many ways—and this committee did a study on this—as a flag of convenience for mining companies.
So there are foreign mining companies, often Chinese, that register as Canadian companies. It allows them to display the Canadian flag, when in fact they are not Canadian.
Aren't you concerned that it may be risky to partner with these private companies for strategic considerations as important as Canada's security in the north?