National Defence committee  I'm going to start with this one, Art, because the navy has labelled me the navy's Arctic expert, and I've been working on the Arctic file for a fair while. That's a big question that unpacks into two components. One is the soft security, environmental pollution, constabulary nature of risk or threat devolution in the north because of climate change.

National Defence committee  Yes, sir: theoretically, you're right that if you hook all the niche or specialist capability requirements in any domain to any one ally, or any one type of thematic relationship, you lose your sovereignty as a navy. And you can never know what tomorrow's mission will be. No mission tomorrow ever is a reflection of what it was in the past.

National Defence committee  Wow. That's like a research project. That's a very tough question, sir.

National Defence committee  It's a great question.

National Defence committee  I'd rather Art McDonald start, and then I'll write notes and think about it as he goes. We are a very proud nation. The reflection of that is that we're a really proud navy. We don't abrogate sovereignty to anybody in any way, shape, or form. At a government level, government has put its cards in NATO, and they've made bold statements, even since the election, about their resolve and standing behind NATO.

National Defence committee  Thanks, Admiral. We started 20 years ago talking about the replacement of the Protecteur class, so it's a long-term endeavour to situate these recapitalization efforts. We're at the moment where we retired two of our AORs...and I will take exception to the term “prematurely”. After 46 years, it's not premature.

National Defence committee  Yes, sir, but some of these elicit great passion. I'm just one of those types of people.

National Defence committee  Could I just elaborate, sir?

National Defence committee  The counter-drug mission of the joint inter-agency task force south is, as he said, a partnership endeavour of 14 regional states in the Caribbean. So not only are we taking drugs off the streets of Canada—that's an easy way to express the outcome of taking tonnes of cocaine out of the narco-trafficking system—but we are actually disarming, to some degree, transnational organized crime.

National Defence committee  I have a mandate to generate the readiness of naval forces, and at the same time I have a mandate to employ those naval forces in operations on behalf of the commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command. I am given resources to execute this operational mission on every case that a ship is deployed south.

National Defence committee  Thank you very much, sir, for the question. Yes, we serve both on NATO and within United Nation frameworks. Coalitions themselves will seek international frameworks to operate. Even nationally we will seek an international framework, and we'll operate within international norms, and to international law, and the law of armed conflict in the Geneva Conventions.

National Defence committee  Perhaps I can start. Submarines are an incredible force-multiplying capability in any navy, for any country. One submarine equals 30 submarines as far as the adversary is concerned. The inability to detect the presence of a submarine in your oceanic areas of interest, and the amount of resources that must be diverted to tend to that submarine...because the weapons system is so lethal when it comes from a submarine.

National Defence committee  Thank you, sir, for a great question. In my career I've certainly had the reward but the great challenge of participating in an economic embargo of a state that was at war. The war in the former Yugoslavia implicated NATO in a maritime interdiction operation, in an embargo of munitions and fuels that were literally fuelling a war.

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. President and honourable members of Parliament. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the readiness of the Royal Canadian Navy. I am honoured to serve the 3,000 sailors of the Canadian Atlantic fleet and several thousand defence workers who ensure that our warships are combat ready.

National Defence committee  All right, I'm going to have to be quick, right?