I can take this one, Mr. Chairman.
Capability is directly related to the NATO defence planning process that I explained earlier. NATO defends the planning process. As I said, it's a four-year process and it starts with five steps. The first step is talking about the environment, understanding what the environment is all about. Once that step is done, then we look at the various requirements that NATO needs to face that environment; that's step two. Then step three is the apportionment of some of those capabilities toward a nation, and this is based on the wealth, structure of its forces, and many factors. Before this capability is apportioned to various nations, a lot of dialogue happens. It does not takes place in weeks, but over years, to make sure that we are apportioning the right capabilities to the right nation. Canada is subject to this like any other nation.
Last year we were doing step three, the apportionment for the 2015 process, which will allow us to able to cover the next 10 years over the medium term, up to the next 20 years. In 2019, we'll start a new process. What was very specific or important to understand in the 2015 process is that it incorporated the renewed focus on collective defence. As a result of this, a lot of nations have been given more targets, Canada included. Canada was given something like 40 more targets than in the previous process. That's how the process works.
The other step is that we make sure that we implement the medium-term targets and then the long-term targets. Then we review the results. What has also changed this year is that all nations have to do a national report. This process is a bit beside the NATO defence planning process. A national report needs to talk about the cash, capabilities, and also the contribution that is made to NATO and to other commitments outside NATO.