Transport committee  Absolutely.

Transport committee  I believe we should have taken this first step back in 1986, to be honest, when we enclosed the Arctic with straight baselines. My view is, better late than never. The Russians are moving toward enclosure; the Americans and Europeans are moving towards openness in the context of this waterway.

Transport committee  Unfortunately, you're absolutely right. If you look back to the history of the creation of the Arctic Council, which was a Canadian initiative, our hope was that we could create the council as a means of having a political body that would deal with all these issues on a circumpolar basis.

Transport committee  Thank you very much. I almost feel like there's a little bit of an old Manitoba mafia here, finding out you're from Selkirk and Brandon, being a good Birds Hill boy myself. In the context of my comments overall, I have four comments in regard to the bill. But let me begin, first of all, by clearly expressing my support.

Transport committee  Okay.