Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I want to ask a bunch of questions. If I may, I'll ask them one after the other and then give you a chance to respond.
I have a couple of things. The first is that you're part of the 17 departments that are responsible for marine security, which should be no small feat, but there is apparently a marine security working group. I'd like you to give me an indication of how often the working group meets and maybe some idea of when it last met and what were some of the things on its agenda.
The next one is on the territorial issues around the Northwest Passage and the other territorial issues around the Arctic. I would think they must create some interesting tensions between Canada and the U.S. I'd like you to speak a bit about that in terms of the added challenges that situation causes for both the Northwest Passage and other areas in the north.
I'm curious. The AIS and I think also the LRIT system track vessels of 300 gross tonnes and greater. What about vessels under 300 gross tonnes? Are they not a security threat? It sounds like they would therefore go undetected. I wonder if you would comment on that.
Also, in regard to the assets in the north, there has recently been a decision on the west coast to defer the construction of the new heavy-duty icebreaker that's meant to replace the Louis. When I think out another seven or eight years, I wonder what that means. When are we looking at decommissioning the Louis St-Laurent? What does that do in terms of the Coast Guard's capacity to be able to fulfill its function of icebreaking for security purposes in the north?
Again on assets, there is the Parliamentary Budget Officer's recent report on the Arctic offshore patrol vessels. They were of course promised in 2007, and I believe $3.1 billion was the budget. He suggested that not only are we not going to be able to produce six to eight vessels but now it may be four, and if we wait any longer, it's going to be three. This has implications in terms of the icebreaking capacities of those particular vessels. I wondered if you could comment on that in terms of your assets, or the assets in the north. They are not “your” assets, because they have been assigned to the navy.
I guess that's my last question. Again on that issue, the AOPS, how is that going to work? The Coast Guard has the expertise in the north with regard to staffing these vessels and conducting these icebreaking and surveillance activities with your ships in the north. How is that going to happen operationally with the fact that the navy has responsibility for these however many AOPS vessels, three, four, five, or whatever? How is that going to happen?
If I may, I'd like to ask for your comments.