First of all, my sense is that Canada is now showing again that it provides muscle to NATO, by rejoining the AWACS program and taking the lead in having Canadian troops back in Europe now—although after the Cold War we didn't know this would be needed again. You've answered the call by taking the lead of the multinational battalion—and the most complicated as well—in Latvia. This shows that Canada is sharing the burden, increasing its defence budget. That means you speak with a loud voice in NATO today. You've shown that it's not just words, but actions, like your commitment to Afghanistan, or the Balkans in the past. That's key.
Secondly, Canada stands for norms. I mentioned in my remarks the criticality of not just producing more weapons, but also producing norms and good ideas. Canada has always been in the forefront of propounding norms, since the days I used to work with people like Michael Ignatieff and Lloyd Axworthy. There's a lot of work to be done.
I totally agree with everything that's been said about women, peace and security; the great role of Ambassador Hutchison; and Security Council Resolution 1325. However, I would hope that Canada would go beyond that and also propound in NATO other types of norms that we should be developing, particularly in the arms control and cyber domains. You have a leadership role in the G7, which could be an appropriate venue as well.
Finally, from the point of view of my own country, you have signed a trade agreement with the European Union. Unfortunately, we don't yet have the trade agreement with the United States that we hoped for. You've shown that a major North American country can sign one. In my country, when we talk about Brexit, we always talk about Canada plus, or Canada plus plus.
I agree with Madeleine: lead the way on multilateralism, the liberal rules-based international order. You have a great deal of authority on that, and that's a message everybody needs to hear.