Thank you very much.
I appreciate your comments to the committee with regard to Muslim immigration, and your concern with regard to that. There really is a battle in the Islamic religion between the extremists and the moderates. It's a battle to discern who's a moderate and who's an extremist, and the threat that creates to the population of Canada.
I don't argue with that, but you made some interesting comments with regard to the number of immigrants who are coming in, the foreign worker program and so on, and that they're not being checked thoroughly enough or having a one-on-one and that should cause us a bit of concern.
You also wrote a paper that asks if Canada poses a security threat to the United States. Your thoughts there were that the United States had to tighten the 49th parallel because they didn't think we could prevent terrorists from coming into Canada and we provided an opportunity for them to be siphoned across the 49th. I think this is true.
Chertoff was the head of the Department of Homeland Security initially after 9/11. I've been in meetings where he almost indicated we had a terrorist under every tree in Canada. That's a bit of an extreme comment, but nonetheless he said hundreds of them are coming across. I challenged him. I asked him where they are because he didn't catch them at the border. If he said there are hundreds and he knew there are hundreds, where are they? Then he had to backtrack.
My question comes down to the issue of Canadian security and how you compare that to the United States' security. Every time there's another threat, whether it's the shoe bomber, the diaper bomber, the cartridge bomber, added layers of security have been put on, in the United States and Canada and internationally.
All these bombers attacked America, not Canada. If they were successful, the last two would have landed in Canada. But it goes to what was said earlier about the advanced list, and making sure we know who gets on a plane coming to Canada prior to their landing and trying to come in, or into America.
But specifically, in your estimation, what would America have over Canada with regard to security, as far as these people coming into their country?