I wanted to address my questions on this pre-screening, as I'm not following your logic. I'm sure it's me and perhaps no one else in the room.
Better pre-screening has been recommended by another witness. On the one hand, I think you're saying that better pre-screening could be fairer; I think you said that, but I'll get you to respond in just a second.
I know that in the case of Mexico, pre-screening has been an essential step forward in eliminating a bogus refugee problem. We had some 10,000 unsubstantiated refugee claimants come from Mexico over a three-year period, leading up to July 2009. A visa requirement was put in that inherently meant there was now pre-screening, and therefore we eliminated that problem. We have saved, I believe, something like $140 million in processing unsubstantiated refugee claims. Meanwhile, while it's not ideal to have a visa requirement, the visas are being processed with increasing efficiency.
To Mr. Greenholtz, perhaps you would explain your view on better pre-screening. Would that enable our government to identify everyone on a ship or a plane destined for Canada before they reached Canadian soil, something that clearly was the motive behind the new rule vis-à-vis Mexico in July 2009?