Yes. Thanks very much.
First of all, I just want to say that I don't think this should be before the finance committee. This is something that pertains to public safety. It's about our border operations and should not be before the finance committee. It really needs a very full debate and review, and we shouldn't be dealing with it here as part of an omnibus budget bill. It concerns us that this is in here when it doesn't have the possibility of proper oversight and accountability.
We have some unanswered questions about this provision. We know, for example, that there have been other initiatives in the past to create an integrated cross-border maritime law. The pilot program for Shiprider was in fact in Windsor, Ontario, and has now been expanded. This notion was originally introduced in the Commons during Bill C-60, and then it was introduced in the Senate as Bill S-13. At that time there was no budget analysis available for this provision. It was just a framework, so we don't know at this point if there have been any cost analyses done for this.
While we believe that the notion is important that an agreement deal with common border issues such as illicit trade, trafficking, smuggling, terrorism, counterfeit goods, etc., it shouldn't be before the finance committee, and we really need to have more discussion and review and more information.
So we won't be supporting it at this time.