Good afternoon, Madam Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses as well for their presentations, and certainly all of the men and women of our Canadian Armed Forces. I am fortunate to have a military base in my riding in Simcoe—Grey. At Base Borden, I have the opportunity to thank many of them in person.
I have a couple of questions pertaining to the base. On April 5, The Globe and Mail reported that Canadian Forces Base Borden would be the headquarters for the joint force central fight against COVID-19.
The minister did confront me a little bit later. I wish it was earlier because I was hearing all kinds of concerns from local residents about military seeming to be coming into a little town. I was getting lots of concerns as people were stressed about the pandemic and wondering what it meant. Maybe further on, the ministries could reach out to the local MP and give them a heads-up. That would certainly be appreciated.
They said that approximately 400 troops were stationed at Base Borden for Operation Laser. What was the actual number?