Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I may be splitting my time with Mr. Harris, if he returns from the House. I don't know that he will.
Minister, the analysts for this committee, and the estimates, indicate that the planned spending for the Department of National Defence has been cut by $2.5 billion over the next three years, and defence spending, at about $20 billion, will slow in two fiscal years.
I want to specifically direct your attention to Canada's search and rescue capabilities and ask for your confirmation that none of those budgetary slowdowns will affect Canada's search and rescue expenditures or our need to actually expand search and rescue capabilities.