Professor Sands, in your opening remarks, I noticed that the second point that you stressed was the importance of expanding joint operations. In your view, the level of integration of the Canadian Forces and the American armed forces under NORAD is very effective.
I realize that this is not your reality, but if you put yourself in Canada's shoes, is there not a risk that Canada may well lose some of its sovereignty? There are two aspects, the materiel and the officers, which are increasingly integrated with the U.S. Given that those two aspects are more and more integrated into the North American defence, if a government did not want to participate in certain operations, would there not be a risk for Canada of losing its sovereignty? Could telling our American friends that we do not want to participate in such and such an operation pose a problem? The government may change and have a different position on Canada's involvement abroad, particularly in the Middle East.