Mr. Chair, a commitment has been made by this government to put in place in the Arctic refuelling capabilities. The location chosen was Nanisivik. There has been a scaling of that project with respect to the initial announcement.
We have conducted a full-value engineering review of the project to ensure it will deliver what we require in that location within the mandated budget. Progress has been made on the project itself within the definition phase now and the interim facilities were built during the summer of 2010, including a temporary office building. Temporary deployments and operations and future military exercises will benefit from this refuelling station. The construction of these interim facilities will also provide training opportunities in the Arctic, which is an important priority of this government.
Clearly, the future arrival of Royal Canadian Navy offshore patrol ships, the eventual completion of the project of a new icebreaker and all of the navy assets that will be able to refuel will benefit from this project. This is part of a larger footprint that we see of facilities and infrastructure in the Canadian north.