Mr. Speaker, I will start by responding to the issue of prosperity. We do not have quite the prosperity we would like in the world today but there is no doubt that there is more than there used to be. In eastern Europe, where they used to have socialism, which I know my friend is a proponent of, having cast off socialism they are enjoying the fastest growth rates in the world today. That is thanks to having abandoned the wayward ways that some over there have not yet abandoned. Enough on prosperity and on to the issue about understanding the agreement.
We are very fortunate in having this treaty before us because rarely do we have a treaty that actually reflects basically half a century of practice. The changes to it are very minor and there is nothing like the past practice of what the treaty has shown us to know what it will mean for the future. What it will mean for Canadians is safety, security and the comfort that we have a collective defence arrangement that keeps Canadians safe, that protects us from military threat and does so at a minimal cost.
If we had to do the same kind of military build-up to protect ourselves, if we did not have the enjoyment of the shield that Norad gives us and which we share in, we simply would face ruinous expenses.
For us, we know what the treaty means. We have seen how it has worked in practice. It has been very good for Canada. It has been very good for Canadians. That is why we are pleased to endorse it and ask this House to endorse it for the next four years until there is a quadrennial review. In four years there is a review and that is the way it should happen. It can be ended at any time by any party on 12 months' notice, and that seems to me better than waiting five years if we decide we do not like it anymore.
In the unlikely event that the NDP ever forms a government, I have no doubt it will give that 12 months' notice and will walk out of the arrangement. The NDP would then either have to do a great big military build-up for Canada, or perhaps it would simply leave us unprotected, but that is a question the member will have to wrestle with.