Mr. Chair, I have spoken to the minister personally in the past about Arctic sovereignty and I know t he also takes this issue very seriously. One of the Conservative Party's election promises concerned icebreakers. I would like to know where the government is and where the minister is with that right now. There have been suggestions that instead of icebreakers, that hovercraft could be used in the north.
I wonder if the minister is aware of the significant difficulties experienced by the Canadian Coast Guard when using hovercraft in cold water and cold air conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as the spray freezes and builds up as a thick ice on the equipment. Certainly this would be an even bigger problem in the north. I wonder if the minister could comment both on where we are with icebreakers and the other issue around hovercraft.