Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to welcome our friends, particularly Mr. Elcock, who is a former Deputy Minister of Defence. He held that position for several years. Mr. Donaldson, I also attended your change of command ceremony. I want to wish you good luck. Thank you also for being here, Mr. McDonell.
Mr. Donaldson, your predecessor, Mr. McFadden, appeared before us in March 2009. I have to come back to what we discussed then and ask you three questions about National Defence. It is important that we get as much detail as possible about national defence issues, even if we agree that the RCMP is in charge of security.
I had asked him a question about protection of air space, the issue that concerns me most. You are talking about air surveillance, but you are not talking about protecting air space. I had talked to Mr. McFadden about the possibility of using a ground-based air defence system, ADATS, that was installed at Kananaskis for the G8 a few years ago. That system would protect against low-altitude attacks by any Cessna, for example, that might be loaded with explosives. His answer was not very clear. He talked about NORAD and all that.
NORAD is in fact in Colorado Springs, and I can't see how a Cessna attack could be prevented from Colorado Springs, even if the F-18s are here. I understand that the F-18s will perhaps be patrolling the air space, but it seems to me that this would not cost a lot. The Canadian government already has the ADATS equipment. I have also been told that every nation that has held the Olympic Games has always deployed land-based air defence systems. Why would we not do it?
Rumour has it that the United States would protect the air space. I hope that will not be the case, because Canada has the necessary equipment to do it and I don't see why it would not do it.
Mr. Donaldson, there is a group responsible for the famous Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Strategy of the Government of Canada. Will that group be deployed in the region of the Olympic Games in the event of a chemical, nuclear or other attack?
I would also like you to talk to us about the Joint Task Force, JTF-2. In the event of a hostage-taking, will it be on alert in Vancouver? We know that the task force was created for that purpose. Without revealing its location or any state secrets, I would like to know whether that task force will be on duty during the Olympic Games.