Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen, I will be speaking in French and will be using my notes to help the interpreters with their work.
According to conventional wisdom, we should consider the security environment in the Arctic as being relatively safe, with no signs of the turbulence that we see in other regions of the world, which are much more threatened by conflicts and where opportunities for cooperation are not as favourable. This has been the case for a long time, but two new trends are calling into question the assumptions that have underpinned Canadian's strategic approach, which has long been guided by the conviction that we are living in a region which is safe and free of threat.
The two trends are as follows.
Firstly, competition between the great powers has intensified, and this is clearly shown by the return of high-intensity war in Europe and competing strategies.