Madam Chairman, there was a conference this spring that covered Arctic sovereignty. One of the comments that came out of that conference was it was felt there was not enough surveillance over the Arctic, that we do not have the resources based in the north to react to any threat that would come in through the Arctic.
We hear a lot of talk about our border with the United States but we do not hear very much about the very large open area across the north.
We have seen over the past few years a lot more traffic coming through the Northwest Passage. I was in Cambridge Bay one summer when there was a boat that had come in from Ireland. It made me think that people can come over from whatever country and sail right into our waters. That has brought a lot of questions from people who live in the Arctic.
What are we doing to protect the sovereignty of the north? What are we doing to protect the Canadian waters in the north?
There is only a regional headquarters in Yellowknife. As of today I do not think there is a base in Nunavut.
Are any dollars being put in so that there will be at least some presence in the eastern Arctic? What are we doing to make sure we have the resources to deal with any possible threat coming in through the Arctic?