Thank you very much, Emmanuella.
First of all, I would hope that all of the stakeholders we consulted with will see their hard work and their advice reflected in this document. That includes, of course, parliamentarians and the important work here of the defence committee. In many respects, this is also an industrial policy, because we listened to and heard our military industries on what they require—the certainty and clarity over what Canada was going to do and what money would be available to do it. It's also, I hope, strongly reflective of the consultation we have done with the northern premiers, with Inuit and indigenous communities and with northern communities.
One thing that I hope is very clear in this document is that we recognize that the world has changed, but it's our first responsibility as the Canadian Armed Forces. This is Canada's Department of National Defence. I'm the Minister of National Defence for this country. Recognizing our responsibility to defend our own country and our own continent will make us a stronger partner to our NATO allies. It will make us more effective in the work we need to do in the Indo-Pacific. It will also, I think, provide assurances to all our NATO partners, but in particular the United States, that Canada is prepared to step up and do what is required.
One thing that I think many people in southern Canada sometimes think, when they think about protecting northern sovereignty, is that we occasionally have a plane fly over, or perhaps when the ice is out a boat goes by. When we've gone to northern communities and listened to them, they've said, no, it's about infrastructure. It's about airports. It's about highways. It's about fibre optic communications. It's about water treatment plants and power plants. It's about medical facilities.
We know that we have to build five different northern support hubs so that we can fly our new fighter jets, multi-mission aircraft, search and rescue aircraft and helicopters into that region. We know that we'll have to persistently deploy members of the Canadian Armed Forces and we'll have to train in the north. There's a real opportunity in the infrastructure that this will require for it to be multi-use. In my conversations with the northern premiers and with Inuit and indigenous communities, they are very much engaged with us in the importance of building infrastructure. First of all, they'll be very much involved in its construction but also in its subsequent use, because that will support their communities. If a runway can be used to land a fighter jet or transport plane, it can also be used for medical evacuation and search and rescue aircraft.
This is what we mean by multi-use. I think it's the mutual benefits. It's not just an investment in defence. It's an investment in Canadians, particularly in our northern communities.