Well certainly, sir, we exercise in the Arctic every year, and this is led by the commander of Canada Command. My responsibility is to train and generate ships and sailors to participate in that exercise, and each year, hopefully, to make it incrementally more challenging and to introduce more capability and knowledge and to identify new lessons that need to be applied. I continue to see the Arctic area as a great opportunity to be a forcing function for international dialogue, cooperation, and partnership.
To go to your question about China, I share your concern. Here is a country that is clearly emerging as a very influential world power, which has every right to bring a very capable blue-water navy into being, like Canada and our allies. The key will be to see how China employs its navy as it moves from a more coastal to a globally deployable capability, and to ensure that its intent is always to enable the system of the world as opposed to complicating it.
In my view, the key here is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and ensuring that all who use the sea respect this treaty, this very powerful convention, and that when nations act against the way that we have all agreed it should be followed, that we be prepared to stand up alongside one another and make sure everyone gets the right message and is encouraged to be part of the international community.