As indicated by the Honorable member from Regina-Wascana in his comments, the Port of Churchill is a vital element of national infrastructure and component of asserting national security in the Arctic. He receives no argument in that assertion from me. I agree that the Port of Churchill is a vital link to supplying goods in the rapidly expanding economy of Nunavut and it could be used to link Canada to trade routes in northern Russia.
Where I do have a disagreement is in who should pay to preserve that instrument of national policy. I do not believe it should be up to wheat farmers to pay for the costs of asserting national security in the north of Canada.
