Mr. Speaker, this is a very interesting question.
I think there have been agreements between the Canadian government and the American government on interventions over Canadian territory. I will explain.
If there were an invasion by a Russian plane, probably from the east, it would most likely be the Bagotville military base that responded. If there were an invasion by air, still Russian, in the middle of Canada, Winnipeg would intervene.
We do not have enough CF-18 military bases in the west, but I think that the Canadian government asked the Americans if they would agree to intervene on the west coast, if there were a threat? I believe it was just a few years ago that a Korean plane was escorted by some American planes because the Canadian government had detected some suspicious behaviour by this plane but did not have the means to send CF-18s. So they asked the Americans to handle this intervention.
I also wish to remind the member asking the question that it is still possible for hijackings to take place. And Norad now has a primary role here. Monitoring flight plans, it can see if a plane is off course. Fighter planes can very quickly be on their way to see what suspicious things are going on.
Unfortunately, I recall the instruction given by Dick Cheney saying that, if there is a suspicious plane over Washington or over the U.S., it must now be shot down. We hope that will never happen, but we think that hijackings are still possible. I think that Norad has an essential role to play in this area. I think it will have to play this role in the future.