Thanks, Andy.
We need to be very clear that in responding to all of these requests for assistance from the provinces and territories there is a significant cost to the Canadian Armed Forces. There's a price to be paid, and we've been paying that price in our operational readiness for other things. It's been difficult on our members.
We acknowledge that cost, and there are important discussions that need to take place in the country. That includes the provincial, territorial, municipal and indigenous governments, to make sure they have increased capability in order to respond to emergencies, and also to make sure investments are made to mitigate the impacts of some of the emergencies we have encountered. That can be a number of things, including helping communities make better decisions about where they locate in flood plain areas, for example.
As we've indicated, there is a cost associated to having the Canadian Armed Forces do this. I think it's important that we work very closely with provinces and territories in order to ensure that, for example, additional firefighters are trained. It's very clear that we're going to need more of them in the coming years. If the circumstances exceed their capacity, we'll make sure that the Canadian Armed Forces can come in to supplement their capabilities.
I want to be very clear that this should be, in my opinion, a capability that supplements the provincial, territorial and local requirements. We want to continue to encourage them and even support them in building up those requirements so that they have the water bombers, the firefighters and all of the skills that they need in order to respond. Only in critical, emergent situations should we be calling on the Canadian Armed Forces, because we do acknowledge that there's been a cost. There's been a cost to their answering the call. We're very grateful that they've always done it, but it's important to also recognize that it's a very expensive cost that we're incurring. It's a cost to the Canadian Armed Forces. It's also a cost to the Canadian government and the Canadian people. We have to find the most efficient way to respond to emergencies, as well.