National Defence committee  I'm not quite sure. I think a lot of conflicting messages are coming out of Russia. I think they certainly have had a bit of response to NATO's push right up to their doorstep, something they're very sensitive about. So I think it remains to be seen what the evolution of that mission is now that President Putin has returned to office for the third time.

National Defence committee  That's certainly something that there's been a lot of interest expressed in. I don't think that's necessarily going to attenuate any of the potential conflicts we have with Russia, if membership is granted to those states.

National Defence committee  If we want to keep playing the same kind of active international role that we have in the past, I think it's very necessary. If there is a reduction that certainly exceeds what has been laid out, we're going to have some serious rethinking about what our strategy and policies are, going forward.

National Defence committee  I think in answering that question it is important to keep in mind that even though there are significant problems related to burden sharing, not everyone is going to do what we or other people may want them to. A NATO operation versus a UN operation or operations, which could be ad hoc in other parts of the world, do have an enormous number of benefits in terms of standardization, interoperability, and these kinds of things, that simply aren't matched anywhere else.

National Defence committee  I think it's important to keep in mind that just because certain nations that were NATO members, that were contributing to the NATO mission, did other things that may have been, let's say, stretching the mandate, they weren't necessarily doing so in a NATO capacity. I think a lot of initiatives were undertaken by countries, like France, that have admitted openly to doing things in a national capacity that were not specifically within the NATO framework.

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Honourable members, it's a privilege to be asked to appear before you today, and I thank you for the invitation. In my opening remarks I'll be drawing from a study, “Leading From Behind Is Still Leading”, which was recently published by the Conference of Defence Associations Institute.