My whole point is that you can invest tons of money in infrastructure, but if you don't have policies to support that or you have policies that actually hurt that investment, you really are defeating yourself.
What happens with flagpoling is that, during the pandemic when you couldn't go to the border, IRCC had an online system, and if you applied before your work permit or residency permit expired, you were given what was called “implied status”. Once the border reopened it went back to the old way: People apply, but they don't get their approvals for nine or 12 months. In between, their work permit is expiring, so to assure themselves that they can stay in Canada, they go to the border because there they have to be processed immediately.
The problem is that it ties up U.S. customs officers, which means that they're not out there working to clear trucks going into the U.S., so you understand how it all fits together. Then, when they get their paperwork refusal in the U.S., they come over to Canada, they have to go into secondary, tying up CBSA officers, who aren't out working primary, allowing imports or tourists to come into Canada.
To me, it's quite simple: Go back to what you did during the pandemic. Give people implied status and say, “Don't go to the border.” Do it the way it should be done in 2024. Do it online. More importantly, have a service standard that says that you're going to get your work permit within 21 or 30 days of applying for it, so there's no need to wait for nine months and fear losing your work permit. To me, it's low-hanging fruit that should be addressed.