That's correct.
Evidence of meeting #27 for International Trade in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was stores.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #27 for International Trade in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was stores.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
To make that statement in the context of this discussion is not quite fair, because it was not ArriveCAN; it was the pandemic, correct?
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Lovegrove, you talked about threatening language and that the questions were intimidating on the app. Those were in fact border measures that were introduced by the Canadian government—and by other governments, I might add—and they were on the ArriveCAN app to prevent the border agents from having to ask you and me those questions.
It's not the ArriveCAN app, then; it's the border measures, correct?
President, Osella Technologies Inc.
I don't know the legality of who was making the—
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
But you'll agree with me that the ArriveCAN app is just the platform on which those questions are asked.
President, Osella Technologies Inc.
Specifically, in my notes that I forwarded to the committee, I pulled off that threatening language from a Canadian government travel—
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Correct. It's not the app. It's the rules imposed by the Canadian government.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you.
Now, Mr. Lewis mentioned earlier the example of these three or four gentlemen sitting in their private jet at the airport. If I come to the border with you, Mr. Lovegrove, along with Ms. Barrett and Mr. Masse, and we all have NEXUS cards, but I forgot mine, is that a glitch in the NEXUS system or is that my inability to remember my card?
That's a rhetorical question.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
My point is that we have to distinguish between the border measures that were in place, the pandemic itself and the ArriveCAN app.
Let me ask you another question.
Do you believe that there's a scenario in which technology can be used to make it easier to get across the border?
Executive Director, Frontier Duty Free Association
I do. I think the optional measure is a good start.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you.
What about the other witnesses? Do you believe there's a scenario in which technology can be used to make it easier to get across the border?
Liberal
Chief Executive Officer, Niagara Falls Bridge Commission
Technology would definitely benefit moving traffic more quickly across the bridge. It just has to be done the right way.
One thing we saw was that this decision with ArriveCAN was done unilaterally by CBSA and the Canadian government. There should have been workshops and discussions with all the stakeholders involved to try to work through this before it was ever implemented.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you, sir.
This leads me to my next question, which is to you.
If I'm not mistaken, you said earlier that if we didn't have one, we wouldn't need the other. I interpret that to mean that if we didn't have the pandemic measures, we wouldn't need ArriveCAN. Is that what you meant?
Chief Executive Officer, Niagara Falls Bridge Commission
Yes, that's what I meant.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you.
However, you agree with me that there is a scenario in which technology can be used to more easily facilitate getting across the border. We need to separate the two. Do you agree with that?
Chief Executive Officer, Niagara Falls Bridge Commission
I definitely agree with that.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you.
Now, Ms. Barrett, I'm going to go back to you.
You used the word “stickier”. We all agree that it would be nice to be less sticky getting through the border. I'm old enough to remember when I could cross the border with just my driver's licence. In fact, I'm old enough to remember when they might not have asked me for anything at all, when I lived in Windsor, where Mr. Lewis and Mr. Masse are from. I might have gone across the border the odd time to have dinner or do some other things. It was quite easy.
When people introduced the requirement that you had to use a passport, that made it more sticky. Is that correct?
