In terms of the capabilities, certainly when this story was first progressing through the media and we were learning about it in semi-real time, probably, there was some commentary that Canada wasn't able to handle something like this on its own. We've even heard a bit of that here today, with questions as to what the CF-18s can do and what they are not capable of doing.
Again, for the benefit of any Canadian who is watching this, the benefit of NORAD and the reason it exists is to have a partnership in order to not have duplication in some respects. Obviously each nation has to be able to defend its own sovereignty, but the whole purpose of NORAD is to be able to offer that North American alliance and that assistance. As was noted, the CF-18s could probably have handled this, but an operational decision to go in a different direction was made.
Could you perhaps elaborate on why that NORAD partnership exists and how Canada does not lack capabilities, and how, in fact, this NORAD partnership is precisely why we are capable of handling any such threat or instance such as these flying objects and these high-altitude balloons?