I think it's a huge factor, in the sense that we've always gone into battle and always deployed as part of a coalition. Our reliance on the United States is enormously important in a whole host of ways, whether it's intelligence sharing, whether it's access to missile calibration, or whether it's mid-ocean oilers. With the Americans increasingly focused on the Pacific—I personally vary from Joel in the sense that I don't think the North Atlantic is really where the action is going to be over the next 20 years—I think the American relationship is exceedingly important. I would certainly support David's contention regarding an increased defence budget, because we have been nickel-and-diming the physical capital of our forces to a dangerous degree. You can't go much below 23% or whatever in terms of naval activities, because then it comes back to haunt you.
On February 7th, 2017. See this statement in context.