Well, I assure you that my colleague, Monsieur Gourde, didn't rush off to take a nap; he's at another meeting. But I concur with her assessment in terms of the necessity to feed people who may show up.
I wanted to speak to committee members on something. In the last Parliament, I and Madam Bourgeois had an opportunity to undertake a review of Passport Canada and its relationship with Service Canada. At that point we got reassurances that there was a growing relationship and that they were working to assist Canadians to get passports. Specifically for those of us who live in more remote areas, where we don't have quick access to an actual passport office, this becomes a very large issue, especially when we consider that the Americans are proceeding with the western hemisphere travel initiative.
I think there was some concern during the last Parliament that this relationship between Service Canada offices and Passport Canada should become more solidified. Is there a possibility that we might take at least a partial meeting...? I don't want to grow the schedule of this particular committee, but I think it would be incumbent upon us, especially as we look towards the western hemisphere travel initiative being imposed on people who are crossing the border by car or in person, rather than by air, to undertake a review before we break for summer. If there were an opportunity, the analysts might be able to provide committee members who were not part of this committee before this current Parliament with a review of what we heard at that time from the director general of Passport Canada. At that point, we could maybe have a fuller discussion among committee members on whether they feel it would be appropriate to call at least a one-day meeting to review what Passport Canada and Service Canada have undertaken in terms of increasing their relationship.
I think it's going to become important. Rather than this committee's being reactive when there are problems in getting passports, specifically for people in the rural areas and the regions, I think it might be helpful for us to be proactive and ensure that this is going to be an easier process than what we saw when the WHTI came into effect for air travel.
