I want to thank General Woiden for coming in to talk about the reserves.
I had the opportunity, as I was telling you earlier, General, on Sunday to spend some time with the 38th Brigade. Reserve units from Thunder Bay, throughout Manitoba, and all of Saskatchewan are participating in Exercise Arctic Bison 2015 on Lake Winnipeg, simulating a plane crash. They'll be spending nine days out on the ice. They won't be going into the bush to camp; they'll be sleeping out on the lake. They're working with a platoon from the 2nd Battalion of PPCLI, out of Shilo. The 440 Squadron from Yellowknife is down with a Twin Otter. They're coordinating with the RCMP and Transport Canada as they simulate a plane crash on the north basin. There are even U.S. Army reserves from Oklahoma participating in the mission so that they can get some exposure.
Can you talk about the importance of having these types of exercises? I don't mean just from the standpoint of training and maintaining capabilities within the Canadian Armed Forces reserve units. I should also mention that the 4th Ranger company is participating, which I believe is out of Thompson. We're talking about interoperability here. We're talking about ongoing training and coordination between all segments of a whole government approach, and also really looking at a NORAD model on northern sovereignty and protection.
I wonder if you could talk a bit about that, about how important this is.