Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Chief, Admiral, and Commodore for being with us today. It is important that we are having this discussion at this high level, especially today when we are announcing the request for proposals on our new surface combatants.
I want to go back to what Pierre was taking about on threats, because I think this is critical in how we are evolving in the navy. When we look at the proliferation of submarines and icebreakers by both Russia and China, when we look at the geopolitics that China has been playing in the South China Sea and whether they're going to respect the UN's Convention on the Law of the Sea and whether that may also transpire in the Arctic itself, and when we look at Russia's very aggressive stance that they've been showing in the North Atlantic, in the Baltics, and in the Black Sea, there's just so much to be concerned about.
The Royal Canadian Navy has done a fabulous job of being a protection force, a security force, making sure that our trade routes remain open and working alongside our coalition partners.
Are we ready to deal with this new evolving threat with the proliferation of the subs and icebreakers? Are we ready to deal with Russia's aggressive stance in the Arctic as they increase their naval presence, their air force presence? Definitely we see them threatening Canadian airspace with their fighter jets and Bear bombers.
Are we able to engage and protect our sovereignty in the Arctic, first and foremost, and also deal with the cybersecurity and the electronic warfare that Russia has engaged in, as we witnessed in the Baltic and in the Black Sea? They've done flyovers of NATO ships when we were in manoeuvres in those waters.