Thank you.
First of all, I've changed my mind on the Arctic offshore patrol ships in the last couple of years. Now that I think of them as replacements for the marine coastal patrol vessels, I begin to see a role for them along the west coast, the east coast, and up into places like Baffin Bay. The ice strengthening will simply add some utility to those replacement vessels. I think the Canadian Forces should get those vessels, but we should stop calling them Arctic vessels and realize that we do need additional capacity in the High Arctic and that the additional capacity should be provided by the Coast Guard.
In that context, we need to talk about recapitalizing the coast guard icebreaking fleet, not with seriously heavy polar icebreakers such as the Russians have, but with vessels like the Terry Fox and other medium icebreakers, which can go where we need them to go at any point when another vessel might be in Canada's Arctic waters.
In terms of a base for these vessels, a couple of years ago the Prime Minister announced the renovation of the old wharf at Nanisivik on northern Baffin Island. That makes some sense, because the wharf is already there, but it's not a terribly accessible location and it's not a replacement for a deepwater facility at Iqaluit on southern Baffin Island, which the Government of Nunavut has been requesting for a number of years.
The reality is that any vessels we use in the Arctic will be extremely long-range and in all likelihood will occasionally come south to places such as St. John's or Halifax, and that's okay. What we need during the summer months, when the activity is taking place, is the ability to surge into the Arctic with vessels that can fulfill a multitude of different functions, and we need some vessels that can go into the heart of the archipelago and assert our sovereignty there.