If there were a crisis somewhere across Canada, first, at the municipal level, municipal first responders would try to deal with the issue. If they wouldn't or couldn't and can't, then the province or territory would be asked to come in. If a province can't or doesn't have the support it needs—and in some cases, as we saw in the last year, it may not have—it will then come to the federal government. It will come to the Department of Public Safety and the Minister of Public Safety will look at the request.
Throughout that entire period, to be very clear, the Government of Canada, the Department of Public Safety, the Canadian military, and other departments and agencies are already well aware of what's going on at the local level. We have that awareness. We're already starting to do some type of contingency planning of what if we were to be asked for this event. What should we have ready to be deployed?
The Department of Public Safety looks at that request—a request for assistance, in many cases—and is talking very quickly throughout the night with different federal agencies and departments to see how quickly we could bring it together. Then the Minister of Public Safety would come to the Minister of National Defence and ask for that support. Then we would move on and provide that support as requested by the territory or province.
Clearly, the province or territory is in the lead. They ask us to come in, coordinated and integrated by the Department of Public Safety for all federal assets. The key to success here is an integrated approach, not just the military. By having all of the assets together, it leads to much longer-term solutions to the issues.