Thank you very much, Mr. Alexander.
Thank you for your service to Canada. As the former ambassador to Afghanistan, I know you have intimate knowledge of that country and a great deal of know-how concerning how Canada can best contribute.
With respect to your question on environmental stewardship, I would proudly say that the Canadian Forces are very much at the forefront of efforts to take responsibility for contaminated sites and places where unexploded ordnance still exists, and there are allotments in the main estimates aimed at continuing that stewardship and environmental awareness and contribution.
Many of the properties that require attention and investment are in remote parts of the country, as you might expect. Many of them are the bases themselves, but we've assigned a very high priority to environmental programs. A good example is Goose Bay in Labrador. The base there, which was formerly occupied by American troops, has received something in excess of $300 million in investment for cleanup of those environmental waste sites.
This is also extremely important in addressing past problems. It is an opportunity really to give back in many senses to the communities that have played host to the Canadian Forces in previous years. We are committed to ensuring that these contaminated sites and the hazardous waste that may be found on some of these sites are managed in a prudent and responsible way, and ultimately that we leave the environment more pristine than we found it.
If I can refer briefly to Afghanistan, Mr. Chair, that is, in fact, the case. The space we occupied at the Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, the ground we walked on, is literally in better condition now than when we found it. It is a remarkable accomplishment that we have left not a trace of our presence on that ground, and that we have taken not only all of the physical evidence that we were there—the chattels, the buildings, the equipment—but have also remediated the actual soil that we occupied. That is really a testament to the commitment of the Canadian Forces to the environment, both in our country, but in the case of Afghanistan, in theirs.