Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the panel for joining us today.
Mr. Henderson, I don't think we've crossed paths before.
Dr. Boutilier, it's great to hear from you, from beautiful Vancouver Island. It's good to see you again.
I would like to explore two areas, now that an OIC has been made effective transferring the Coast Guard under National Defence. Specifically, the first area is the Coast Guard spending, which currently qualifies towards NATO defence spending, and the second is some of the specific changes that will need to be made. I appreciate some of the excellent suggestions and observations that were made in your opening remarks, which did address this, but I will explore it a little bit further.
The August 2025 NATO press release defines NATO defence expenditures. It says, “In such cases, expenditure is included only in proportion to the forces that are trained in military tactics, are equipped as a military force, can operate under direct military authority...and can, realistically, be deployed outside national territory in support of a military force.”
In that light, what percentage of Coast Guard training and operations is as per the NATO definition? What are they trained in, in terms of military tactics?
This is for anyone in the panel.