Let me add, sir, that the divergence of interest has been there for a while. I think it was more difficult at a time when both countries saw the potential for energy resource development in the Arctic. That's less crucial now, not only because of new supplies of oil and gas, but because the Arctic is an expensive place to operate, so it's not a priority for our energy companies.
Where we are actually sharing concern relates to the environment. Certainly, the Obama administration and the Trudeau government have taken up a great concern over climate change and the effect it has on the Arctic, among other regions, so perhaps this can bring us together in ways that may help us resolve some of these territorial claims.
I know that this issue has been around a long time. It seems to me that Canada and the United States are reasonable countries. We ought to be able to come to some accommodation here. The longer we bicker over these territorial disputes, the more we create an opening for Vladimir Putin to put us at odds with each other, and we end up making redundant and sometimes foolish expenditures on Arctic capabilities when we could be coordinating and co-operating. I think that's exactly what our rivals in the Arctic might want.
There was the story just this morning that China is planning to do shipping through the Northwest Passage in the coming year. I think that's a dramatic change that should wake both of us up to the fact that we need to resolve these disputes. Yes, they're serious disputes, but we've resolved serious border disputes, whether it's the Georges Bank or the Alaska boundary dispute going back 100 years ago. We can do this. I think we just need to make a bigger effort to get those things resolved, exactly as you say, to prepare to defend the Arctic and co-operate in that region.