Thank you, Mr. Albas.
I'd start by saying that if you were to speak to anyone in Marpole and ask them how often they go to Richmond, you'd find that that's actually not necessarily where they ordinarily go to shop, to get their services, to do their banking or to get their community services. They're not residents of Richmond. That's the first thing.
The second thing is the idea that the Canada Line is the be-all and end-all of transportation between Vancouver.... I would invite anyone on this committee to go and situate themselves at the corner of Fremlin Street in Vancouver, or 70th Avenue, and try to make their way easily to any of the historic offices of MPs—the last five MPs in Richmond—to see how long it takes you to get there by transportation, by car, by foot, by bike or by boat. Or, you could swim; that might even be faster. It doesn't work.
The other thing that is important to consider is that when you think about the nature of the community in Marpole, their ties to the city of Vancouver and the degree to which they are connected to what happens in Vancouver, you cannot understate the value of what people in that community feel about where they actually belong.