Evidence of meeting #42 for Public Accounts in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was initiatives.
A video is available from Parliament.
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Liberal
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Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
Maybe to use an example, with regard to a truck carrying auto parts at the Windsor border, the same parts can cross the border seven times between the two countries.
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Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
All right.
Then in terms of the evaluation criteria, it's low risk. What's the definition of low risk?
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Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
Low risk is good character, no previous border related offence, no derog—
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Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
Thank you. Some words in English are harder to pronounce than others.
Sorry about that.
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Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
So if there's no adverse information, the approval is given.
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Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Would drivers for individual companies, for example, have to be pre-approved in addition to the company itself?
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Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Okay.
I see in the briefing note of the introductory remarks that there's a number of lanes going to be opened up. I assume that the corresponding lanes on the U.S. side, in Fort Erie, for example, will be ready to go at the same time.
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Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
I wouldn't have the numbers on the lanes on the U.S. side. It's something I could provide to the committee, if needed.
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Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Okay.
Is there a scenario in which an entry lane from Canada to the U.S. would be available, but not coming back through the same border?
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Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
Again, I would have to confirm.
If I use the example of a NEXUS lane, usually they're available on both sides. That's the benefit of being a NEXUS member.
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Liberal
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Liberal
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Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
With regard to the approval process, have you had feedback from the people who are part of it already to see how effective it is from their perspective?
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Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
No, not specifically for the FAST program. We hear a lot of good positive feedback on the NEXUS program. Again, the application is—
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Liberal
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Voices
Oh, oh!
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Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
Okay.
It's a joint program. CBSA does its own assessment. USCBP does a separate assessment. If the two organizations give a green light, then you are deemed trusted and you get your membership into the program. FAST works on a similar basis.
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Liberal
The Vice-Chair (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes
Thank you very much.
Mr. McColeman, you have five minutes.
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Conservative
Phil McColeman Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Going back to the example of the single window, it's stated in the report that you've accepted the recommendation of the Auditor General and that there will be certain actions going forward. My questions relate to that.
How well does CBSA modify its consultation process to ensure that the trusted trader program will meet stakeholders' businesses needs?
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President, Canada Border Services Agency
As I said previously, and as I think my colleague said as well, we meet with them twice a year. At the most recent meeting, in November, we had agreement on an adoption strategy.
We're still onboarding our federal partners and programs to make sure that the system is complete. Several of them are going through the certification process and putting in their systems so we can talk to each other. We're going to be monitoring this very closely and, as I said in my comments, I believe that we'll have full, or pretty close to full, adoption by the spring of 2018.