National Defence committee  No. We increased expenditure by 70%, but we do not have a plan for 2%.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, the question speaks to areas of Canadian leadership over many years. It was Canada that put the protection of civilians in armed conflict on the Security Council agenda back in 1999. Canada was one of the principal champions for the creation of the International Criminal Court.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, both of those plans—Operation Unifier and Operation Reassurance—offer a degree of flexibility, so that the government is able to introduce new steps within the terms of those operations as circumstances change. As with all military plans, they come up for renewal by cabinet, so the approach can be fine-tuned by cabinet.

National Defence committee  I can take a first stab at it, Mr. Chair, and then turn to the vice-admiral. In response to the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, we began to reinforce the eastern flank. The enhanced forward presence battle groups in the Baltic countries and Poland, one of which we lead, are part of that response, but there are many other elements, including air policing, that we participate in as well.

National Defence committee  I thank the member for her question, Mr. Chair. I can respond. First, with respect to NATO's capabilities, we have offensive cyber capabilities, but we use them very rarely. We're a values-based alliance and we're a defensive alliance. Engaging in the kind of irresponsible, offensive cyber-activities that we see some of our would-be adversaries engaging in is not something that we're willing to do.

National Defence committee  I'm not an expert in cyber, but in most cases the response is led by individual allies. When a country has been subject to an attack, generally they lead the response and they can turn to allies for assistance. We have put in place the capacity to provide support to allies who request it.

National Defence committee  I'll be very quick and then turn it over to you, Admiral. Mr. Chair, where we have had tensions between allies in the past, including between Turkey and Greece as an example, the Secretary General has very quickly put in place deconfliction mechanisms involving the two parties speaking offline, in this case, at a military level.

National Defence committee  Why don't I take a run at that, Mr. Chair, and then turn to the vice-admiral. SACEUR has implemented some extraordinarily robust deterrence measures. We are very clear, every ally, and this has been enunciated clearly by the Secretary General and by SACEUR, that every inch of alliance territory will be defended.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, Canada is one of the founders of NATO and we have been in a position of leadership from the outset. It's a responsibility we take very seriously. In the case of Ukraine, as an example, we have been out in front for many years. Our Operation Unifier was in place when it was only Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. providing training.

National Defence committee  I said in my introduction that NATO is constantly adapting. One demonstration of that is the incorporation of both cyber and space as new domains. NATO is now active across five domains, including land, sea and air. It was decided by the alliance that a cyber-attack could trigger article 5, which is the article of the Washington treaty under which we are committed each to support each other militarily.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, the threshold would be very high. Article 5 has been triggered only once in the alliance's 72 or 73 years. That was in response to the 9/11 attack in the United States. There is no specific written definition of the criterion that would need to be satisfied, but it would certainly involve loss of life and massive military impact.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, the Secretary General has been speaking, I think, for the vast majority of allies in expressing enormous concern at the possibility of a no-fly zone. Leaders of some of our largest allies, including the American president, have been very clear on this point as well. The concern is that, if NATO were to be involved in the enforcement of a no-fly zone over Ukraine, first of all it would involve putting our service personnel in a position where they would risk interacting with Russian personnel linked to that.

National Defence committee  Chair, thank you for your comments and for the opportunity to join you. My name is David Angell and I am the Canadian ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO is a defensive alliance founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and rule of law. Its task is to guarantee the security of the Euro-Atlantic area and of the nearly one billion citizens of the now 30 allied countries.