Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, this initiative could have a tremendous effect on our tourism industry of 7.7 million trips into Canada and over tens of millions of dollars in my riding.
I want to ask the member if he appreciates that this should be a non-partisan effort by everyone and we should work together in the House. It is great to hear a number of opposition members come on side tonight. As the member mentioned, it was announced on April 5 of this year but it was as early as March, before it was even announced, that our Deputy Prime Minister came out strongly on this initiative. Our embassy has taken a number of initiatives on this. I was in Washington recently and the ambassador was giving a speech that was not even related to this topic, but he brought forward this issue to make sure that it was front and centre with many very important American leaders.
Does the member think it is very important that all the opposition parties have come on side with the many efforts the government has been making in this area?