Thank you very much, Mr. Jennings, for being here today. I've appreciated listening to what you've had to say. It's a breath of fresh air to understand that we're not the only ones who have a lot of the challenges that we think are unique to Canada.
One thing I found particularly interesting in your discussion and in your submission, which I read in advance, is that it seems that in Australia, the public will is perhaps a little bit more behind defence than what we're experiencing in Canada—at least, that's the way it came off in what I read.
You also talked about bipartisan support, a point Mr. Bezan raised. If you go around this table, with three different political parties sitting here, we will all tell you that, yes, we believe in defence; yes, we believe in sovereignty; yes, we have to defend. It's the degree to which we do, because some of us will say, no, it's more important to invest in this than it is to invest in that one. It's about where you fall on the spectrum.
Do you find that there is strong public support for defence and building up the navy, as you've been talking about? In particular, I noticed in your comments that you spoke briefly about our “proximity” to the U.S. I quite often feel as though perhaps a lot of the political will in Canada is lacking as a result of our proximity to the U.S., but this is obviously my personal opinion.
Could you comment on that?