The e-manifest program, or advanced commercial information, is actually one of the key priorities of our association. It's something that has been talked about for 10 years or more. It's not a new initiative. What e-manifest involves is the advance transmission of information to the Canada Border Services Agency before the mode of transportation reaches our borders or our ports. That will allow the Canada Border Services Agency to do its risk analysis before goods reach the border and decide which of those shipments need to be inspected.
Our members are supportive of that initiative, and they are looking to speed up the process for entry of goods into Canada. As part of that process, the United States is implementing a similar program, so we are trying to ensure that the program we implement in Canada is consistent with the program implemented in the United States. Canadian carriers, for example, have made it very clear that they do not want to have two separate programs. So this is an example of how working with the United States will reduce the cost for Canadian business and will ensure that we're not trying to comply with two different programs, invest in two different types of systems, and so on.
Referring to some of the points that we made earlier about its not being a democratic process, in the case of e-manifest, there was a consultation meeting back in January. One hundred and fifty people attended that consultative session. While there have been discussions between CBSA and CBP in the United States in terms of sharing lessons learned, in terms of how they've implemented that system in the U.S., we are also setting up our own consultative framework in Canada so that Canadian businesses--small businesses as well as larger companies--can be consulted so that the system works for Canadians.
Also, if there are any regulations that need to be passed--and we anticipate that there will also be legislative changes--those will have to be brought before the Parliament of Canada. So these decisions are not just made in working groups between Canada and the United States.