Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Weber, my front door looks across to Washington state, so I'm very close to the border and go across the line very frequently. I'm always impressed by the incredible professionalism of the CBSA officers. They're highly specialized and well trained. They do an incredibly effective job.
I think this committee would be unanimous in saying thank you for all the work you do on behalf of members and that members do to ensure that our borders are operating effectively and appropriately.
You mentioned this in your presentation:
This is to say little of the agency’s decision to spend dozens of millions of dollars on the private sector, instead of choosing to invest in its workers and reinforce their capacity to act on behalf of Canadians. At a time when our members are being nickel-and-dimed at the bargaining table, this is nothing less than a slap in the face.
This is something that started under Mr. Harper and the Conservative government. It's this obsession with privatizing and outsourcing what are important public services to maintain and enhance.
As you've mentioned, we would be hiring hundreds more border officers if that money hadn't been spent on ArriveCAN. If we couple this with Phoenix, which started under the Harper government—it cost $2.5 billion and still doesn't work—it's another example of outsourcing that hurts people, hurts our public service and hurts people who are devoted in service to the country.
What things should we be investing in? You've mentioned frontline border officers. What can we invest in regarding training facilities for the next generation of border officers? What things should we be doing, instead of the outsourcing we've seen over the last decade and a half?