Mr. Chairman, a strategic airlift has been a priority for the armed forces since Paul Hellyer's 1964 white paper, but nothing has been done. Canada is not like every other country. We are the second largest in the world in terms of land mass. We have small forces and we need strategic airlift more than ever before. We had to rely on U.S. airlift to get our equipment into Afghanistan. We needed the U.S. airlift to respond to both the Manitoba floods and the ice storm here in the Ottawa valley in 1998. Those are facts. What will the minister do to address this serious problem?
In the House of Commons on May 7th, 2002. See this statement in context.