Thank you, Mr. Minister. I think anybody who is paying attention clearly recognizes that.
I'm going to change the line of questioning a little bit. Something that's come to my mind is, if we acquire these C-17s--it's a matter of when now, not if--it would seem to me that other nations or allies would look at the resource or assets that we have as something of potential interest to them to be able to use. I'm wondering if you could elaborate for this committee the advantage to the Government of Canada or the Canadian armed forces in terms of negotiating, entering into collaborative missions such as Afghanistan in the future, should the United Nations decide to go into another international arrangement. How does having these assets benefit our ability to negotiate what the Canadian Forces can and can't do?