I'll will be speaking in French, so you should put on your translation devices if you want to hear me.
I want to begin by thanking both of you for your very interesting presentation, even though it dealt mainly with the military side of things and with policing.
I've just returned from Norway where I was attending a meeting of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association. Several years ago, I raised the issue of how the opening up of the Northwest Passage would impact NATO, Europe and the Americas. I could just as easily have been speaking Chinese, as far as NATO proceedings were concerned. No one had a clue as to what I was talking about. For the past year of so, this has become a hot topic in NATO circles, hot enough to generate some discussion and studies that will continue this fall.
Five countries have staked a claim to the Arctic and four of them are NATO members. It is all well and good for NATO to hold talks, but I really don't see that it has a role to play in ensuring security and a military presence. And yet, that is the role that NATO officials seem to want the organization to play for some reason. Our future should not be left in the hands of NATO. I'd like to hear your views on this.
Obviously, Russia is often in the hot seat. Yesterday, the Finnish embassy confirmed to me that their airspace is often violated. A number of people have been caught off guard somewhat by Russia's actions. They want to cooperate with this country, but many people, primarily those from Scandinavian countries, have told us that they find it hard to stand up to Russia.
How do you feel about NATO playing a future role in the Arctic? Is this something that should be considered or would the nationalistic sentiments of each country preclude a NATO presence in the Arctic?