Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all for attending.
You know, Canada, being the sixth-largest GDP country in NATO, is also the sixth-largest contributor to NATO. Canada is doing its part in that regard, but certainly we can always do better. I was taken by the tremendous amount of reception and gratitude we received in Estonia and Latvia, even in Poland, in recognizing that Canada has been a leading force and has contributed tremendously to the cause.
I was really taken by watching some of the Ukrainian recruits being trained by Canadians—not to fight, necessarily, but to defend themselves against the mines and the “dragon's teeth”, as they call it, and all the stuff that's created in trench warfare. I was taken by the colonels basically advising their soldiers not to get too friendly with the Ukrainian recruits—be calm, do the job, avoid friendships, and don't do Instagram, Facebook or any social media—never knowing if these guys will come back. That's the sad reality of this fight. These young kids are putting their lives.... They're brave. They're going out and doing the job, and Canadians are there to try to provide support where necessary. I'm very proud of our team and what they're doing out there, so thank you for what you're doing.
When I was there and I saw all this, I saw a tremendous amount of collaboration and support with Operation Unifier, with the other countries and states. I was also taken by the need for us to be responsive to article 5, should it exist, either in the Baltic states...and hence the tremendous amount of support that we have in the eastern front.
The obvious question is this: How much support is there, and how long will that area be secure, given the amount of ammo that's available to us? I'm getting conflicting reports as to how much we can withstand a defence measure there. Do you have a sense of that?