Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the two witnesses for their presentations.
My first questions are for Major-General Wheeler.
On February 11, the Ottawa Citizen published an article by Lee Berthiaume discussing Royal Canadian Air Force budgets. Among other things, he mentioned the 2014-2015 internal business plan of the 1 Canadian Air Division, and you are no doubt fully aware of its budget constraints.
I will take the liberty of reading part of the article to you. I will read it in English. It reads as follows:
But 1 Canadian Air Division's 2014-15 business plan says the “extremely limited manning and financial flexibility that exists in the Air Force restricts the effectiveness with which we can fulfill our mandate.“ It adds that underfunding “will eventually impact the RCAF's ability to conduct operations.“
The same article also stated that there had been a decrease in the number of flight hours.
I'd like to hear your opinion about the impact of cuts on the operations of the Royal Canadian Air Force.