Thank you, Mr. Norlock, and thank you for your ongoing and vibrant support for 8 Wing and the Canadian Forces.
You are right to suggest that the Canada First defence strategy remains our guiding vision. It will have to be updated, and will be updated in the near future.
With respect to the figures you've referenced, the main estimates include a decrease of $255.7 million. This is a reflection of something I've referred to here a number of times—the termination of the combat mission in Afghanistan. With the operational tempo giving way to the training mission, we've gone from 3,000 to under 1,000 people in-country. We've seen the costs associated with the expansion of the Canadian Forces when we were engaged in combat increase as a reflection of equipment needs for the mission—the UAVs, tanks, aircraft, and other in-theatre equipment to support the men and women in uniform. This has changed as a result of ending combat and transitioning to training.
With respect to the second part of your question, the overall profiling of the larger number reflects the whole spectrum of the Canada First defence strategy. We always seek a balance between equipment, personnel, infrastructure, and readiness. The readiness is always a bit more difficult to define in dollar amounts because it refers to the training ,and in some cases, to the reaction to missions like Libya and Haiti that appear quite suddenly. But that is the budgetary allotment for the Canada First defence strategy.
We want to keep it fresh and keep those men and women in uniform, as well as the administration that supports them, ready to do this important work on behalf of our country.