Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Blair, for coming before our committee.
Canada and Russia of course have the longest coastlines in the Arctic Ocean, and we know about climate change and its effect on the Arctic and the retreating sea ice. That retreating sea ice creates a vicious circle, because the more ice we lose in that ocean, the worse the climate change effects will be.
I guess one of the worrisome consequences of the war in Ukraine is that we see incredibly antagonistic attitudes from our Russian counterparts in a vitally important ocean. I'm wondering about this from your perspective, Minister. In spite of the war that's going on and the antagonistic relations between our governments, there is still a great need for co-operation between our two countries with respect to climate change, given the fact that we share coastlines in the Arctic Ocean and we both stand to lose a lot with the melting of the permafrost.
Could you update the committee on what the status of co-operation is between our respective scientific communities with respect to research and science in climate change? Is there still the possibility of any kind of co-operation in addressing this very real and most dire threat in the 21st century?