That's a very interesting question.
The way we will likely get to the dispute is the way we always do with the Americans, and that is to argue publicly and to resolve it quietly behind closed doors. We tend to take our stances: Canada has to say certain things; America has to say certain things. Then back behind closed doors, arms are twisted and things get resolved, such as allowing certain kinds of ships to go through the Northwest Passage.
I would agree with you 100% that this actually is the one that's more important than the Northwest Passage. The whole question of who controls the drilling rights in the Beaufort Sea, and things like that, are really, really important issues. The fishing rights issue is the one that's coming up to the table right now.
There was an expectation, I think—and certainly among the academic circles I work in—that as long as President Bush was there, we were going to get a fairly hard-nosed approach, and that perhaps when President Obama came in, we would get a lessening of that conflictual orientation. I don't think that's likely. In fact, I think the Americans are quite concerned about making sure they defend their interests in the region.
So the United States and Canada get on each other's nerves from time to time on a whole range of issues. We do tend to resolve these things relatively quietly behind closed doors, and I suspect on this one, that may well be part of the solution.
There was an issue, as you well know—and maybe you have talked about this before—raised by the Americans about fishery control, which I think has the potential to blow this up sooner rather than later.