Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for briefing us this morning.
I just got back from a week in D.C. I was there for Canada-U.S. parliamentary association meetings. We participated in the National Governors Association meeting, and then had Congressional meetings. We had individual meetings with 27 governors, and we met with 46 senators and congressmen.
The issue that concerns me most, after those discussions, is the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which comes into effect in June. It appears, based on our discussions with Congress, that it's on track to be implemented. If that does occur, and if a passport is required to cross the northern border, that will represent a significant thickening of that border, given the fact that only 25% of Americans have passports.
It particularly will have an effect on the efficient movement of people and commerce between our countries, across Canada and the U.S., but it's particularly ominous in terms of the 2010 Olympics. Governor Gregoire in Washington is working with Premier Campbell in British Columbia on the enhanced driver's licence initiative, but it won't be implemented to the scale required to reduce the clogging of the border that will occur as part of those Olympics.
I'd like to know what we're doing on that as a country to achieve a delay--not necessarily forever, but simply to give us enough time to replicate and to expand the successful EDL initiative that is now being duplicated.... I believe Ontario's working on this. I spoke with Colleen Manaher from the DHS, and she's promoting it within DHS across the U.S. I assume that our Department of Public Safety is doing the same.
We need that delay. That issue is crucial to us across the country. What is being done on that, and what is your view on the possibility of achieving a delay of WHTI?