I think it's critical that we have an armed coast guard. It's a better use of resources to move in that direction, toward an armed coast guard that would then have Canadian Forces personnel on it.
The reason I say that is that in an ideal world we would have Arctic/offshore patrol vessels and coast guard vessels. But given resource constraints, I think it's more sensible to go with an armed coast guard and to focus on those maritime assets that are useful both in the Arctic and in trouble spots around the world. That's why I mentioned the submarines. So in the ideal world, we'd have the AOPS, but given resource constraints, that's the direction I would go in.
As for threats in the Arctic from other countries, yes, all these southern countries are building icebreakers. A Chinese icebreaker went through the Arctic last summer, I believe. So there are many threats from other countries around the world in the Arctic. The reason they are all up there is economic. Keeping a regime in power requires a strong economy, and economics demands that they have shorter transit times around the world. That's driving activity in the Arctic.