Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to let the witnesses know that I won't be trying to extract any question period fodder out of them with my questions.
One of the things that we have seen, as we've talked about, is that certain countries have taken the lead with NATO missions. Some of those countries that have taken a key role, such as the U.S. and the U.K., have had to, because of their financial situation, make significant reductions to their defence budgets. It's something that Canada didn't have to do because of our fiscal position.
Can you explain how you envision NATO's willingness to engage in future expeditionary missions will be affected by those key participatory nations having significant reductions in their defence packages?