I certainly don't want to disparage my inland colleagues, but we are in competition with them in a sense because, as members of the standing committee have pointed out, there is no necessity, except for the legislative provisions that Rénald has described, that there be an office in Buffalo. However, since there is, we want to make sure we can do the best work possible.
What clients are concerned about, in our humble opinion, is efficiency. I don't think there is an inland office that I know of where you can get same-day service: you can come down at eight o'clock in the morning and walk out with a temporary resident visa by 10 o'clock. I think clients are willing to trade off, if you like, the rationale of why they're applying in Buffalo for the efficiency they receive.
We know we're on the border and we've made every effort to try to make it more efficient for our in-Canada clientele to apply through our office, such as by establishing this post office box in Fort Erie where we will drop off and pick up their applications. Even if they mail in an application on the non-immigrant side, they're going to get an answer within two weeks for routine cases. I think it takes approximately four to five times that long to get an extension to your status if you mail an application to Vegreville.
So we're all about efficiency.