National Defence committee  Thank you. National Defence has 12,500 houses for the use of military members and their families, and they're scattered across the country, not always in the right places, according to requirements. We are in the midst of using operational requirements from base commanders and f

National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. These decisions are driven totally by the operational requirements of the forces.

National Defence committee  That's a good question. I think five to 20 years would be reasonable, but we have been hoarders, so the thrust at DND right now is to release land that we're not using.

National Defence committee  I met two or three weeks ago with the president of the university when he came to Ottawa. As we discussed the future of that big piece of land, which is a very valuable piece of land, and also the subject of high interest from a number of first nations, we are trying to make sure

National Defence committee  No.

National Defence committee  Thank you very much. As part of that deal with Canada Lands, they're responsible for the cleanup, and before they did anything or would do anything with it, they would clean it up. When we hold the land, if we intend to move it on to somebody else or to a different organization

National Defence committee  Once it was assessed, yes. The costs would become clear, but the deal would specify which party was to cover those costs.

National Defence committee  In terms of upgrades to the runways and that kind of thing, that would be decades and decades. As needs change, the runways would be changed. The spending that I'm talking about is on a scale where it really is recapitalizing the current base, current capability, and current supp

National Defence committee  We recapitalize on a 40-year cycle. We do $26-billion worth of assets every 40 years. That's the intention. In terms of Comox itself, it would be for a long time.

National Defence committee  I would say no, we're not all. Change on the scale that you're talking about would mean there's a new capability—

National Defence committee  —and it would be quite dramatic. New capability requires new infrastructure and new support, so that would be an investment. As my colleague said, it's part of the overall equipment program.

National Defence committee  I would say, generally speaking, yes, it would not be lost.

National Defence committee  You'd have to ask the air force that question, in terms of capability. Certainly it will result in a base that is better equipped to support operations than it was before the upgrades.

National Defence committee  Our regular maintenance and regular upgrades are scheduled to keep the asset in the condition that it needs to be to support operations right now. As new aircraft or new capability come on anywhere within National Defence, we'll change the infrastructure to support that. At this

National Defence committee  I'll ask my colleague to answer that one.