On missile defence, a decade ago I worked very closely with former foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy on the issue of missile defence. There was a lot of concern expressed by many of the same voices you've heard today and in previous sessions about how the United States needed Canadian participation, how they were pushing for Canadian participation, how we needed to have facilities in Canada.
When former prime minister Paul Martin said no, the Americans shrugged and worked around the issue and developed a capability that did not require Canada.
When Professor Fergusson says, “expand radar in Canada, probably at Goose Bay”, my response would be yes, and it could probably be placed in southern Greenland also. Be aware that there is pressure here, but it may not be not quite as real as some people would want you to think.
In terms of priorities, I think if you were to ask the U.S. defense secretary what his priorities would be involving Canada's capabilities, he would say, I want you to replace the CF-18s; I want you to replace the army trucks, so that you can actually deploy your army abroad in significant numbers; I want you to replace those supply ships, because right now you're completely dependent on the U.S. Navy, and we want you to be able to form task groups on your own—etc., etc.
Any ally of Canada looking at us objectively would say that participation in missile defence is way down the list, because so much else in our military is broken.
Thank you.